Kota Kinabalu, Sat. - Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) has urged the National Registration Department (NRD) to speed up the issuance of birth certificates to rural children and adults to enable them to apply for identity cards and exercise their citizenship rights.

Bandau MP Dr Maximus Ongkili said the number of people without birth certificates and identity cards in the rural areas was still huge and existing procedures to overcome the problem were too cumbersome, lengthy and expensive for most village folk in the interior.

Debating the National Registration (Amendment) Act 2001 in parliament last Thursday, Ongkili urged the NRD to simplify the procedures for late registration and exempt or reduce the charges for those involved, stressing that "exemption or reduction of charges is provided for under the Act and accompanying regulations."

"For too long the Home Affairs Ministry and NRD have been placing the blame on the rural communities for not registering early the births of their children, accusing that rural people do not realise the importance of birth certificates.

"This is a misplaced judgement. It is not true that rural people do not place importance on acquiring birth certificates. The real problem is that they do not have the money to pay for travel and the necessary costs to register and acquire the documents on time," he claimed.

Ongkili who is also PBS deputy president argued that had the children of rural families been born in hospitals and rural clinics, they would automatically be registered for their birth certificates because it would be so convenient to do and there would be government personnel to assist.

"Most of the rural people without birth certificates and therefore without identity cards were born in their poor homes without the attention of a rural nurse. The basic problem is poverty and poor government service," he said.

Urging the government to stop blaming the rural families for their predicament, Ongkili appealed to the government to increase the allocation for the NRD, "so that more rural visits could be made by its officers to register and issue birth certificates and identity cards to our rightful citizens who are yet to get their proper documents."

On the specific amendments to the Act which among others provided for the Director General and Deputy Director General of the NRD to be appointed by the Yang DiPertuan Agong, he hoped that the amended Act would give the Department an improved image.

"I hope the amendments will make the NRD more transparent and professional in carrying out its duties especially in Sabah in light of previous involvement by its officers in fake I.C. rackets as proven by the ISA arrests of 1996.

Just as well we hear only of "I.C. palsu" and not "Jabatan palsu", he added.