'For something so important as citizenship, why is the NRD director-general afraid to come out to clarify the many controversial approvals of citizenships.'

Green IC holders 'vanished' due to system upgrade

Tkc: The system upgrade is to make the National Registration Department (NRD) online system even less transparent to all parties. It is a giant step backwards and makes a mockery of a nation that aspires to be on the leading edge of technology.

If more irregularities are exposed by the opposition members after this very convenient system upgrade, one should not be surprised if they throw the OSA (Official Secrets Act) book at the messengers because they are practically running out of excuses.

KitaAkanSiasat: It's a conspiracy, Umno is embarking on a long-term project to thin out opposition supporting citizens and to replace them with Indonesians, Filipinos, Burmese and Thais.

Umno understands that the bumiputera and non-bumiputera concept does not work well for the younger generation as the number of opposition-supporting Malays is growing by the day.

The so-called race champions - MCA, Gerakan and MIC - are watching this progress silently as their leaders are being threatened with political death.

Tell me, are race-based politics/parties still relevant? Dear Malay brothers and sisters out there, Umno is betraying all of you, stick no more to race-based parties.

It's not about race at the end of the day, it's about how strong we are as a country and how many are living a good life.

Josephine: It is so easy to explain away every anomaly - either it was an entry error or that the database not updated. Considering this is a national citizens' database, I think we need more explanation.

Nothing short of a royal commission of inquiry (RCI) to look into NRD procedures on how citizenship is granted is required.

Changing a person's status on a computer database is just a few keystrokes away. NRD should open their 'books' to substantiate their response.

Jedi_Who: There is no check and balances. The problem is the top brass are all politically motivated. Imagine the NRD allowing a change to an existing database record to be so poorly controlled.

In IT (information technology), you are not allowed to circumvent a process of entering or changing a source record as what is being practiced by the NRD and EC (Election Commission).

EC's record has no reason to differ from the NRD's since their database is merely a replication. Where are our government auditors on corporate governance?

Ferdtan: For something so important as citizenship, why is the NRD director-general afraid to come out in the open to clarify the many controversial approvals of citizenships to foreigners, especially to the not-so-deserving lowly-qualified Indonesians?

We hope that when Parliament begins in October, MPs should ask the home minister the number of approval given for citizenship since 2008, and the breakdown by nationality and their academic and working qualifications.

JBGUY: I find this rather fast-track process by the NRD to grant citizenship to certain individuals a downright abuse, where so many Malaysians who have lived and worked here from birth having to struggle getting their citizenships.

Foreigners, especially those from Indonesia and the Philippines, are granted citizenship without much ado. Many loyal Malaysians die without being granted citizenship for reasons best known to the home minister and NRD.

Only in Malaysia can such blatant abuse is tolerated.

Onyourtoes: Perhaps the NRD should now explain why citizenships are so easily given to so many foreigners while many locals born and stay here all their life are still not citizens.

Kgen: Strange. Many Malaysians don't even bother to register themselves to vote. Yet foreigners who became citizens immediately rush to register themselves as voters. Isn't this suspicious? Which came first - the voter or the citizen?

Anonymous_3da0: Wow, this means there is no way for the public to actually ascertain the status of a person through the NRD, although one of the excuses given by the EC is that their database is linked to NRD.

Lim Chong Leong: In the event of two conflicting databases, which one is correct? A man with only one clock knows the exact time. A man with two clocks can never be sure.

Especially so when one database is not accessible to the public. I bet there is only one database all along and there is hanky-panky, and these two databases is just some story cooked up by the NRD and EC.

How hard is it to sync database anyway?

Apex court quashes review of Lingam RCI

Ben-ghazi: "Its findings and recommendations are not binding on anybody, not even the government," said Federal Court justice Md Raus Sharif.

What a waste of time if the recommendations of the RCI (royal commission of inquiry) are not binding on anybody. So why the hell did we spend so much taxpayers' money on the RCI if nothing happens after that? Who can prosecute the perpetrators of abuse of power and corruption in high places in the judiciary?

Quigonbond: The Court of Appeal wanted to ‘bodek' the federal government by allowing a judicial review on the findings of the Lingam RCI.

But after the abysmal performance of the Teoh Beng Hock RCI and the same challenge is raised on its findings of suicide (as preposterous as that may be), the Federal Court has now smartened up and realised that it may after all, be in the long-term interest of the Umno-led federal government not to permit RCI findings to be challenged. That way, the suicide finding in Teoh case will stay as it is.

But make no mistake. It's just a finding, and the public can decide whether they accept it or not. The quality of an RCI does not lie in its findings per se, but the credibility of the commissioners and the solidity of its process. Lingam case was solid and transparent, Teoh was sloppy and misguided.

FellowMalaysian: If (recently retired Chief Justice) Zaki Azmi was so proud and pleased with the performance of the judicial courts during his tenure, why have the recommendations of the RCI to investigate the offences of the six named persons have been kept in the freezer in the past three years?

It took a concerted effort and great resolve to get the BN-led government to initiate this RCI and now it looks like the rakyat's expectations have been dashed. So it is not too far-fetched to imply that Teoh Beng Hock's appeal will just gather dust.

Muak: If nothing is going to come out of this, then why bother having the RCI at all? Isn't this a total waste of taxpayers' money and the government is basically telling the people that folks like VK Lingam cannot be punished because he knows certain people in government?

Only the rakyat is punished when they break the law. The people elected into public office cannot, and will not, be subjected to the law.

Bluemountains: No action will be taken against the gang of six because the people who have the authority to do so are living in glass houses themselves and therefore dare not throw stones.

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