SABAH RCI A Filipino who obtained a blue identity card today admitted to divorcing his Filipino wife to marry a Sabah woman in order to strengthen his grounds to stay in the state.

Abdul Latif Jumaani admitted to this when questioned by lawyer Ahmad Abdul Rahman, who is holding a watching brief for the Sabah Law Association, at the royal commission of inquiry on immigrants in Sabah today.

The admission came despite Abdul Latif's earlier statement to the RCI that he divorced his Filipino wife of 10 years on grounds that she could not give him any children.

Ahmad:

You married a Sabahan so that your grounds to remain in Sabah will be stronger?

Abdul Latif: Yes

Ahmad:

That means when you divorced your Filipino wife, it was just a trick to marry a Sabahan to remain in Sabah and not because she could not produce children?

Abdul Latif: Yes

Abdul Latif, 55, arrived in Sabah illegally, through Semporna in 1972 with his mother and two siblings. They later moved to Kota Kinabalu and then to Kinarut.

He later married a Filipina Bajau woman, but divorced her 10 years later and in 2004 married a Sabahan originating from Brunei and they now have two children.

Becomes victim of IC fraud as well

Despite being born in Pulau Ubian, the Philippines, Abdul Latif was able to obtain a genuine blue identity card through illegal means but ironically, became a victim of fraud later, for a Pakistani man had taken over his identity.

"When in Semporna, a Bajau man said he could get me an identity card and I met him in a house where he filled up a form for me, took four copies of my photograph and my fingerprints as well as a statutory declaration," Abdul Latif said.

He received his blue identity card five months later.

When he went to upgrade his IC to the latest version, in Papar in 1999, the National Registration Department (NRD) accepted his application and issued him a temporary receipt pending the upgrade of his identity card.

The receipt effectively has the same privileges as a normal blue identity card, including voting rights, but has to be renewed every six months.

"But I lost the receipt so I lodged a police report and also informed the NRD, where I was later interviewed and my application for a replacement was granted," Abdul Latif said.

Voted three times in elections

However, instead of getting a blue identity card, he was again issued a temporary receipt, on which he had to rely for eight years without receiving the proper IC.

"NRD said my IC belonged to a Pakistani... I do not know who it was," he said, but added that the department recently recognised him as the rightful owner of the identity card.

Abdul Latif, who has voted in elections in Sabah three times before, said his name was struck off the electoral roll when the Pakistani had stolen his identity.

"I only re-registered as a voter recently but could not vote in the last general election," he said.

At this, watching brief lawyer Ahmad noted that Abdul Latif still should not be on the electoral roll as his blue identity card, though genuine, was illegally obtained.

Abdul Latif ,whose two children are recognised as citizens, admitted that though his IC wrongly states that he is Sabah-born, he has the right to hold the identity card, he insisted.

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