The total cost Sarawak natives have to bear to go through the procedures required to obtain identity cards (ICs) amounts to at least RM1,500 per person, said a local activist.

And even then, they may not be granted the IC and may have to make repeat visits to the National Registration Department (NRD), said Mujan Jok.

Mujan, a Miri-based homemaker who started assisting natives to obtain identity cards in 2012, said a one-way journey from the interiors to Miri costs RM150 per person.

Applicants also need to bring along the village head to attest that they live in the village, costing another RM300 in return fares.

Additionally, the applicant would need to perform a DNA test with a relative to prove familial ties, costing RM1,000 at a public medical facility or RM1,500 at a private clinic.

"They have to spare RM1,500 plus, maybe RM2,000," she told Malaysiakini on the sidelines of a forum on the issue of IC-less Sarawak natives in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

According to PKR's Miri MP Michael Teo, the DNA test can be skipped if there is proof of birth in the country.

However, government agencies would require testimony from midwives, for example, and in many cases midwives have moved away or died.

"They say a child must be born in a hospital but the Orang Ulu are born in the jungle and the midwife might be the mother-in-law, or sometimes the midwife has died.

"It is not possible to prove (birth or familial ties) for the Orang Ulu so they have to do DNA tests," said Teo.

With Health Ministry budget cuts and hospitals short of funds for diagnostic tests, he said, the natives may now find it difficult to conduct such tests in government facilities.

He said in various cases, tests from private laboratories, such as those conducted at his private clinic, have been rejected by the NRD.

"They have to walk up and down and fill up forms. If the government wants to make trouble for you, they can make 101 troubles for you if you are Orang Ulu," he said.

'NRD mobile comes unannounced'

Mujan said only those aged at least 70 are allowed to attest that someone is native to a village, but many natives do not survive till 70.

She added while the NRD does deploy mobile units for registration of those in the interior, they arrive without notice.

Those who need to register for ICs may not be in the village at the time, as many stay at their farms away from the village during the weekdays, she said

"They (the NRD) come as if they are on holiday. The NRD said they will inform us a month ahead, but promises remain promises," she said.

Mujan believes approximately 20,000 Sarawak natives do not have identity cards.

In March, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Joseph Entulu said a statewide exercise to register Sarawakians who have no identity cards would continue until the end of 2017.

NRD officers were shocked to find 600 applications for identity cards and birth certificates awaiting them in the interiors of Sungai Asap, about 150km inland from Bintulu.

Three hundred more applications awaited the NRD in the equally rural Belaga constituency, about 70km away from Sungai Asap, the Borneo Post reported.

No IC, no service

Undocumented children are not able to register for school, for example, while government facilities are out of reach.

Natives without documents have to fork out RM200 a night for patient treatment in a government hospital using the rate for foreign nationals, Mujan said.

"Recently I had to go to a hospital to settle the payment for a Penan patient because otherwise they are not allowed to leave.

"They are taken to emergency (for treatment). Before the Penan need not pay, but now they have to pay," Teo said.

He said it is "cruel" not to urgently address the issue of undocumented natives in Sarawak.

"Because without an IC, you can't do anything. You can't get BR1M, you can't go to hospital. You can just live in the jungle," he said.

"If Pakatan (Harapan) takes over tomorrow, we can give ICs to them, no problem."