THE Sabah National Registration Department (NRD) has gone to the ground today to replace MyKads and birth certificates lost by victims of fires at water villages, amid claims such settlements are safehouses for illegal immigrants. 

This was the first time the NRD had undertaken such an exercise, after the Sabah government ordered a census on stateless and illegal migrants. 

Department director Ismail Ahmad said its mobile unit had visited and issued citizenship documents in Likas, Putatan and Semporna, and would soon move to residents in Banggi Island. 

“I must admit there are illegal immigrants in these areas. Most of them are IMM13 and passport holders. But if their children have birth certificates, we will promptly replace them,” Ismail said. 

Unlike the regular registration process, which only takes one day, those who opt to register via the mobile service have to wait at least two weeks, he said.

“We want to properly screened them before issuing their papers,” said Ismail after handing out the citizenship papers in Putatan, Sabah, today. 

With him was Putatan MP Awang Hussaini Sahari. 

Ismail handed out 21 birth certificates and 15 MyKads to recipients staying in a temporary shelter at the Putatan Multipurpose Hall. 

Fire incidents in Sabah water villages, or squatter colonies, are common but the reissuance of MyKads and birth certificates were rare during the past Barisan Nasional administration. 

Today’s recipients comprised victims living on state land in Pasir Putih, Putatan, whose homes were destroyed by a fire on January 11. 

Ismail said the documents of victims in Kg Cenderamata 2, Likas, who lost their homes in July, had also been handed to them.

He said residents in Semporna’s Kg Air Tengah and Kg Air Hujung water villages also received their documents.  

The fire in Semporna on August 21 last year destroyed 100 houses and left some 400 people homeless.

Ismail said he would visit Banggi Island tomorrow to help screen victims of a January 15 fire. 

In the fire, 303 people were forced to seek shelter in nearby schools and a rest house. 

Ismail did not reveal the number of birth certificates and MyKads issued but said the move was a directive from Sabah Chief Minister Shafie Apdal, who wanted those eligible to have their documents replaced immediately. 

Meanwhile, Awang Hussaini lauded the NRD’s quick response, including verification of the victims’ citizenship status. 

He said while the land still belonged to the state, the villagers had permission from the previous state government to stay on the land. 

On the stateless and illegal migrant problem in his constituency, he said while the problem persists, it was not too problematic. – January 21, 2019.