Upko wants the federal NRD to set up a special unit to process applications by genuine Sabahans who were born in Brunei before the 1963 Malaysia Agreement.
KOTA KINABALU: The National Registration Department (NRD) in Putrajaya is anything but sensitive to the problems faced by Sabahans, claims Sabah Assistant Finance Minister Donald Mojuntin.
According to him “the relevant officers there [Putrajaya] are unsympathetic to the problem faced by Sabahans”.
“Forty-nine years since the formation of Malaysia, there are still many people who have not been able to obtain their citizenship.
“It is sadder to note that some of them have applied and re-applied for citizenship only to receive a rejection letter each time.
“And to make matters worse these rejection letters would only come a year or a few years later, ” said Mojuntin, who is Upko citizenship and security bureau chief.
United Pasokmomogun KadazanDusun Murut Organisation (Upko) is a Sabah Barisan Nasional coalition partner.
Mojuntin’s attack on NRD Putrajaya came in the wake of the case of a Sabah woman who was born in Brunei before the formation of Malaysia.
After years of waiting for a Malaysian citizen, she only recently received hers.
According to Mojuntin, there were hundreds of other Sabahans who were born in Brunei before 1963 who shared her fate.
These people, he said, were “countryless” – being neither Bruneian nor Malaysians.
“It is a perplexing situation. They certainly are not Brunei citizens nor are they citizens of another country. So why can’t they be Malaysians?
“It is their respective right by virtue of being genuine Sabahans, ” he said.
The problem, Mojuntin said, was not with the application process at Sabah NRD.
“The glitch occurs when the applications are sent to Putrajaya for approval.
“The relevant officers there do not seem to be sympathetic to the problem,” he said, adding that Upko now wants NRD Putrajaya to set up a special unit to look specifically into cases of Sabahans who were born in Brunei before 1963.
He hopes that with a special unit, the processing of the citizenship applications from this “genuine” group of Sabahans would be expedited.
Keep on fighting for Sabahans right!
ReplyDeleteAs Donald said, UPKO has done a lot for Sabahans, and even Dompok as well.
DeletePeople have been urged to bring their MyKad or other documents like passport, army and police cards when buying controlled medicines in pharmacies throughout Sabah. How they want to buy if they don't have Mykad?
ReplyDeleteThe National Registration Department (NRD) in Sabah targets 40,000 interior folks to obtain birth cert and MyKad by the end of 2012. Hopefully this would lessen down the problems.
DeletePersonally I don't think this is a good idea since it can be misused by some quarters.
DeleteGive Sabah NRD the authority to approve the application if Putrajaya couldn't handle it.
ReplyDeleteActually what he said is true, let alone Sabah do what's the important thing to do. In fact, Sabah is grown enough to determine its action.
Deleteperlu ada kuasa pada pada JPN Sabah.
ReplyDeleteThe State National Registration Department is the best in the country.
Deletelebih baik pemimpin2 UPKO duduk berbincang dengan pihak JPN untuk mengenalpasti apa halangan pihak JPN mendaftarkan warga Sabah di Brunei..
ReplyDeleteI think the authorities should be alert on this as well, not only UPKO.
Deletedalam hal ini, saya yakin pihak JPN juga terikat dengan prosedur2 pemberian kewarganegaraan.. dikhuatiri pula jika mereka sewenang2nya memberikan kewarganegaraan tanpa merujuk kepada dokumen2 pemohon, nanti lain pula cerita dipihak pembangkang..
ReplyDelete