DEPUTY Home Minister Nur Jazlan Mohamed might have clarified that the RM1,000 fine for the late registration of births does not apply in Sabah and Sarawak, but not before causing a storm of protest in the two states.

On Tuesday, he announced that the hefty fine, up from the initial RM50, would be imposed on parents who failed to register their children within 60 days of birth.

Following the protest on social media, he issued a statement, reportedly on the advice of Deputy Home Minister Masir Gujat, saying the fine was based on amendments to the Births and Deaths Registration Act (Act 299), which was not applicable in Sabah and Sarawak.

He said Sabah was subjected to the Sabah Births and Deaths Registration Ordinance 1951 (CAP 123), and Sarawak, the Sarawak Births and Deaths Registration Ordinance 1951 (CAP 10).

Still, politicians from the two Borneo states are not amused.

“Making the announcement, a little controversial to say the least, and then later, making a clarification to pacify angry voices, makes the government look very incompetent,” said the Barisan Nasional lawmaker for the rural Telang Usan seat.

Dennis Ngau said when people in Sarawak found out about Tuesday’s announcement, they believed that the decision did not take into consideration the problems faced by rural folk in registering birth or deaths.

“I was also about to suggest that policymakers in the peninsula consult with local elected representatives before any decisions are made, until I read the clarification this morning.”

Ngau said while he fully agreed with the measure to deter the late registration of births, he opposed it if the RM1,000 fine was extended to Sarawak.

“That amount is too much.”

Sarawak PKR chief Baru Bian labelled the new policy as “stupid”.

“It’s a policy that, again, never has the situation in Sarawak in mind,” said Baru, who is also Ba Kelalan assemblyman, last night.

His constituency, in a remote corner of the Limbang division, close to the Sarawak-Kalimantan border, does not have proper roads, and his constituents, including the Penans, the last nomadic ethnic tribe in the country, do not understand the need to register births.

“These policymakers just don’t know our situation, how difficult and costly it is just to come to town to register births.

“Build infrastructure in rural Sarawak first before making this kind of stupid policy.”

The president of the small non-aligned Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak Baru, Cobbold John, echoed Baru’s sentiments.

“Do they think our rural Dayak people can just jump on a ‘perahu’ (boat) and paddle their way to the front gate of the NRD (National Registration Department) office whenever they want to?”

John, who was also under the impression that the new policy applied to Sarawak, said many rural Dayaks lived in areas where there were no proper roads, and so, a trip to the nearest town to register births or apply for MyKad was very costly, and they could not afford to make such trips.

It is not uncommon for the cost of getting to town and returning to the longhouses to be around RM100, which is a small fortune to many rural folk.

It would cost more if they had to stay in town overnight.

“I’m shocked,” said John, adding that he wondered how Nur Jazlan and the federal government were lost on the situation in rural Sarawak when the state had been beset for years with the issue of “stateless people”, or those who never had their births registered or MyKad made.

John said there were about 500,000 Dayaks in Sarawak without proper documents stating that they were Malaysian.

Edward Andrew Luwak, chairman of DAP’s Serian branch, said the policy would cause more rural children to be stateless.

Serian is a Dayak market town located 66km from Kuching.

Luwak said the RM1,000 fine was way beyond the means of the rural poor.

“I know of hundreds of (families with) water supply bills that are in arrears, bills that are far lower than RM1,000.”

He said when poor parents realised that they would be fined a hefty amount for the late registration of their children’s births, they would simply not bother going through the process.

“It’s not the case that they are unaware (of the importance of registration), but it’s because they cannot afford it.”

He said without the proper documents, children would be considered stateless and the problem would be aggravated when they tried enrolling in school.

Abun Sui Anyit, a native rights advocate, said if the policy was extended to Sabah and Sarawak, “it would be a step backwards”.

“Rather than helping the poor, the government seems happy to punish them for their inability to register their children on time.”

Sabah PKR Women chief Rahimah Majid likened the new policy to “rubbing salt into the wounds” of the poor and low-income parents, who, already burdened by the goods and services tax, were struggling to make ends meet as the cost of living continued to escalate.

“The fine of RM1,000, which is a whopping 2,000% increase from the RM50 previously, is also more than the current minimum wage.

“Where and how are these poor parents going to find extra cash to register their children?” said Rahimah, who is also PKR’s Kudat division chief.

She said the hefty fine would only discourage rural folk from registering their children’s births after the deadline.

She said the outcome would “inevitably cause them to become refugees in their own homeland, for the rest of their lives”.

“The unique situation of Sabah and Sarawak, where infrastructure development is still lagging far behind as compared with Peninsular Malaysia, is part of the main reason behind the high rate of late birth registrations in the two states.

“The majority of rural villagers are just too poor to afford the transportation cost to go to the nearest town to register the births of their children.

“This was the rationale behind the Integrated Mobile Court programme initiated by Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Richard Malanjun many years ago to reach out to rural folk and assist them with the registration of their children’s births.”

Rahimah said since birth registration was the responsibility of the government and part of its services, it should not even impose the RM50 penalty in the first place. – October 12, 2017.