KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) believes that it is timely to introduce the Sabah IC (Sabah identity card) to establish a genuine Sabahan status.
This should be recognised and valued by the Government, said its Deputy President cum Secretary-General, Datuk Richard Yongi n a statement today.
“This shall brook no delay. The issues of illegal immigrants and dubious ICs must be resolved before it gets worsened and beyond control,” he said.
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Richard said through Sabah IC, Sabah will not only be able to achieve the “Region” status within the Federation of Malaysia under the Malaysia Agreement (MA63), but that the Sabahans can fully enjoy all the benefits they deserve.
This is while, at the same time, also able to eliminate the problems left over by the dubious MyKad and the so-called Project IC – illegal immigrants.
“Sabah IC is not meant for replacing MyKad, but to strengthen the identity of Malaysian citizens who originated from Sabah, including natives who live in remote areas and are unregistered or undocumented,” said Yong.
When the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) investigated the issue of illegal immigration in Sabah in 2014, SAPP has proposed the Sabah IC solution which was proposed by the party in 2008 to resolve the illegal immigrants and dubious ICs.
Yong proposed the Sabah State Government to thoroughly consider the implementation of the Sabah IC proposal.
“SAPP is willing to commit and support and readily provide all necessary information and documents needed,” he said.
The implementation will require the Sabah Legislative Assembly to pass a bill and establish a new regulation and set up the Sabah Registration Department for Sabah IC as an institution governing Sabah IC, including an authentication mechanism autonomously run by the State Government.
“When this becomes a reality, this official identity card will be applicable to official matters such as land title, education, subsidy and assistance, business licenses, among others, to optimise the priority rights of Sabahans.
“With existing technology, digitizing Sabah IC will be able to effectively prevent forgery,” he said.
Richard said once the Sabah IC is implemented, it can also effectively clean up the electoral roll and eliminate all phantom voters.
