The National Registration Department (NRD) has clarified that the 'temporary resident' said to have been registered as voter was granted citizenship in 2011.

Last month, an image containing documents stating that Noridah Dawi, a voter registered in parliamentary seat of Silam and state seat of Lahad Datu in Sabah, and who holds a temporary resident card, went viral on Internet.

NONEThe image contains Noridah's temporary resident MyKad that expires in 2013, her voting status in the Election Commission (EC)'s online database and her birth certificate indicating that her citizenship status cannot be determined.

The temporary resident MyKad is issued before 2009 to persons said to be born in Malaysia but whose citizenship status cannot be determined.

In 2009, the NRD said, it replaced these MyKad with a green-coloured card called MyKAS, which carries the words 'Pemastautin Sementara' (temporary resident) and an expiry date.

NONEThis image has yet again raised allegations that temporary residents have been given voting rights to enable the ruling BN government to rig the next general election.

In an email reply to Malaysiakini, the NRD said Noridah was granted citizenship in 2011 and issued a blue MyKad in the same year.

"The image of the identity card with temporary resident status showed in the social website is the identity card which was issued to her before she obtained Malaysian citizenship status.

"That identity card is not valid anymore because she has been issued MyKad. Her MyKad also uses the same 12-digit number, the only difference is her citizenship status," the NRD reply says.

Several NGOs and the opposition have been saying that foreigners have been given citizenship illegally and registered as voters to prop up support for the BN in the coming general election. However no concrete proof has been furnished so far.

Last year, Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein revealed that more than 27,293 people have been granted citizenship from 2008 to August 2011.

BN parties too want RCI on Sabah population explosion

The issue is more contentious in Sabah, where both ruling party and opposition politicians have said illegal immigrants in the state have been given citizenship and voting rights.

Last December, MCA senator Paul Kong Sing Chu said he was informed by the Home Ministry that 2,266 foreigners were given Malaysian citizenship over the past 25 years, and that this figure did not include those who were granted citizenship on statutory declarations.

According to Kong, a written reply from the ministry stated that Malaysian citizenship had been granted to only 2,266 foreigners in Sabah between 1985 and 2010, with Indonesians topping the list.

"This situation really necessitates the formation of a royal commission of inquiry (RCI) on the explosion of Sabah's population," Kong was quoted as saying by Borneo Post, an English daily based in Sabah and Sarawak.

The setting up of the RCI had been a focal point raised by many political parties on both sides of the political divide.

On the BN side, PBS, PBRS, Upko, MCA and Gerakan have been vociferous in asking the federal government to set up the RCI so that the problem of illegal immigrants and illegal voters in Sabah can be resolved.

However, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak is seen as dragging his feet on the setting up of an RCI on the matter.

NONE