Half squatters' ICs suspect

KOTA KINABALU, January 10 (Daily Express) -- It has come to light that almost half the number of Sri Tanjung squatters eligible for relocation to Kinarut are holding dubious Malaysian identity cards.

The preliminary findings of the Sri Tanjung Squatters Screening Committee showed 413 of the 963 squatters eligible for the relocation scheme to be in possession of suspect Ics. Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Seri Joseph Pairin Kitingan said the committee would recommend to the National Registration Department (NRD) that the status of these people be further verified. Speaking after chairing the committee meeting at the Rural Development Ministry in Sembulan, Tuesday, he said the Sri Tanjung squatters had been categorised into two, namely the "A" and "B" list.

Those in the A-list namely 963 adults and 1,199 children are holding Malaysian ICs and eligible under the relocation exercise necessitated by the expansion of the Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA).

However, the committee still requires assistance of NRD to verify the status of 413 people from the A-list because their IC serial numbers were found to be in the list of nearly 200,000 doubtful IC serial numbers. These IC serial numbers were compiled from news reports, court decisions and verified against the Electoral Roll, among others, and questioned in Parliament as well, he said.

In the B-list are basically foreigners, particularly those without documents, passports and work pass holders (including those with expired documents) as well as IMM13 holders or refugees. There are 63 adults and 228 children without any documentation, 49 adults and 11 children with work passes or passports (including expired) and 139 adults with 46 children are IMM13 holders. "Those without valid documents are considered non-citizens and can be excluded from the relocation exercise. So the relevant authorities could take necessary action against them," he said. "We also know that the police have been taking action against fake IC rackets. Also the statement by (Sandakan businessman) Hassnar Ebrahim in Daily Express and coupled with our experience, there are certain areas that we can look into in terms of screening and checking so that no one is protected by means of fake ICs to gain citizenship rights and benefits," he said.

The validity of the ICs bearing the six sets of serial numbers had been questioned by Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) before while it was still in the opposition, especially in parliament.

Pairin said the serial numbers of the doubtful ICs were H0288001 to H03840000 (96,000 numbers), H0480001 to HO5760000 (96,000), H0609601 to H0610000 (400), H0658001 to H0658200 (200), H0658401 to H0659000 (600) and H0666001 to H0666400 (400). He said PBS Sec-Gen Datuk Radin Malleh had queried the validity of these ICs in Parliament when he was Tenom MP in 1995 but that "the answer given was that Parliament was not at liberty to disclose the information".

"This (unanswered question) raised further questions," he said, adding that it was for this reason that the committee decided to recommend the 413 people who are holding the IC bearing the "dubious serial numbers" to the relevant authority.

Pairin cited the case of one of the Sri Tanjung squatters holding the new IC serial number of 700225-12-5291 and registered as a voter in 1998.

"When we zoomed in further (we found) that this person is a voter in Gaya (now Kota Kinabalu Parliamentary constituency) in the Likas (State constituency). The person's old IC number was H0487096, which is within the sets of doubtful ICs," he said.

Based on this approach, he said 244 adults and 255 children in the A-list had in principle been cleared for the relocation. The rest of the A-list include 821 children of the 413 people holding dubious ICs and their relatives numbering 184 adults.

However, Pairin said this is not final as it would depend on the NRD's verification.

At the same time, the NRD is also awaiting information from all the squatters in the A-list that is being gathered on the ground by City Hall in collaboration with the relevant departments.

Towards this end, Pairin advised those in the A-list to assist in expediting the process especially in furnishing their details to the authorities.

"Of course, if I'm a Malaysian and I know I am included in the list eligible for the relocation I will quickly go to City Hall to furnish my details so that it can be processed fast," he said.

"We need their fingerprints and whatever necessary to finalise their status," he said.

To a question, Pairin said the committee hoped to complete the screening process before end of February.

"We will have to wait for the NRD and City Hall before we can get the final picture. After that we will report these findings to the main committee (on Sri Tanjung squatters relocation) and the State Cabinet," he said.

In the meantime, Pairin said they were made to understand that work on the KKIA expansion project could be a bit delayed since the workforce had been focussed on the Terminal Two building scheduled to be declared open by the Prime Minister on Jan. 15.

On the demand for compensation by the squatters, he said this did not arise since the structures were built illegally on State land in violation of the law.