The wife of deported Indonesian Abdul Mutalib Taib - who is a Malaysian permanent resident - fainted at the Parliament lobby last night after Home Minister Azmi Khalid allegedly told her that her husband was a 'criminal' and rejected her plea to allow him to return.

Romita Hasibuan, together with her four children aged 12 to six, friends and lawyer Charles Hector were in the House yesterday evening to follow the day's proceeding whereby their plight was highlighted by Teresa Kok (DAP-Seputeh) in her adjournment speech.

Responding to Kok's speech, Azmi revealed that the decision to deport Abdul Mutalib stayed due to his involvement in forging travel documents which eventually led to the revocation of his identity card and PR status.

When the sitting ended, Romita took the opportunity to meet the minister at the Parliament lobby and attempted to hand over a memorandum to him.

Contacted today, she quoted Azmi as telling her, "Your husband is a criminal. Your children could be brought back to Indonesia."

Romita then pleaded with the minister several times, saying ' tolong-lah Datuk ', but he ignored this and left without receiving the memorandum.

Shortly afterwards, Romita fainted at the Parliament lobby and was immediately sent to the Parliament's clinic. An hour later, she was transferred to Hospital Kuala Lumpur.

According to Kok, who accompanied them, Romita finally became conscious at about 11.15pm - about two hours later - and was subsequently discharged from the hospital.

'Undesirable immigrant'

Earlier in the House, Azmi said Abdul Mutalib, a legal PR since 1978, was held under the Internal Security Act (ISA) for two years in 1995 because of involvement in forging identity cards in Sabah.

The home ministry had in 1996 declared him as an 'undesirable immigrant' and revoked his entry permit and identity card. After serving the two-year ISA detention, Abdul Mutalib was deported back to Indonesia in December 1997.

"Since then, he is no longer a PR here and he could not stay in this country," Azmi explained to the House.

"(However), in 1998, Abdul Mutalib re-entered the country with a new Indonesian passport. Using the entry permit documents he has obtained before and forged documents, he was given the MyKad (Malaysian identity card) on June 8, 2000," he added.

Abdul Mutalib's identity card was revoked on March 23 by the National Registration Department (NRD) after he was arrested and held for a month at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport immigration depot. He was subsequently deported to Indonesia on April 29.

The family however has maintained that neither Abdul Mutalib, a legal PR in Malaysia since the 1980s, nor his family members or associates have seen the revocation notice of his PR nor the grounds for the revocation.

Elaborating on Abdul Mutalib's family status, Azmi said Romita could return to Indonesia to be with his husband while the four children would have no problem in following their parents back to Indonesia although they were born in Malaysia.

Implication on studies

"The children could claim to be Indonesian because their parents are Indonesian. The problem of their citizenship as Indonesians will be solved after they return to Indonesia," the minister said.

In her adjournment speech, Kok appealed to the government to allow Abdul Mutalib and his family to continue staying in the country and recognised them as PRs in line with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child which, among others, states that a child should be protected of his or her rights and stresses on the significance of a family institution.

"Thus, the government has to be responsible to protect the rights of the four children who needed the love of their parents," she told the House.

"Their studies will also be affected should they have to move back to Indonesia and they would also be seen as foreigners there," she added.

The Dewan Rakyat adjourned sine die yesterday.