Permanent resident voted in three elections, RCI told
A permanent resident was able to register himself as a voter and went on to vote in three elections, the Royal Commission of Inquiry on Immigrants in Sabah heard today.
A permanent resident was able to register himself as a voter and went on to vote in three elections, the royal commission of inquiry on immigrants in Sabah heard today.
Omar Mohd Subair, who took the stand at the public hearing in Kota Kinabalu, admitted that he was a voter after he was grilled by conducting officer Jamil Aripin who poked holes in his statement.
"After receiving your birth certificate, you applied to change to a blue identity card (citizen) in 1991 and the NRD (National Registration Department) issued you a temporary receipt containing 12 digit numbers.
"Without the knowledge of Election Commission, you passed off the 12 digit number in the receipt, which was a red identity card number, as a blue one and registered as a voter," said Jamil as a nervous Omar concurred.
Omar subsequently voted in the 1994 Sabah state elections as well as the 1999 and 2004 general elections.
Jamil explained that Omar had exploited a flaw as the 12-digit system was implemented in the same year - 1991.
He said the EC, which was in the process of updating to this new system, failed to cross reference the new 12-digit numbers with the old identity card numbers which the prefix 'H', indicating that they are red ICs.
"But in 2008, when I checked my voter status, my name was not there any more," Omar said.
This, Jamil said, was because the EC had rectified the problem after it discovered the error.
PR also dubiously obtained
Omar claimed he was born in Sabah after his father, who was from India, married a local woman. However, his father took him back to India without registering his birth with the NRD.
His father subsequently died in India and he returned to Sabah in 1974 when his mother passed away, he claimed.
However, Jamil raised doubt over this claim after pointing out that Omar had lied in testifying that he tried to register his birth as soon as he was back in Sabah in 1974.
"What you told our investigating officer was untrue. We checked with NRD, you only applied in 1991, we have your birth certificate here," said Jamil as Omar fell silent.
Furthermore, Jamil said investigations showed Omar had obtained his red identity card through a false statutory declaration by assuming the identity of another person.
This was later discovered by the NRD, resulting in Omar's five attempts to get a blue identity card being rejected due to the dubious red IC.
Omar, who is illiterate, had married four times and divorced thrice. He has seven children, all of whom have blue ICs.
Asked if he knew other foreigners had engaged in similar methods to gain Malaysian documentation, Omar replied: "I don't know".
"Really? It was different when I asked this question during our interview - you had a lot to say," said Jamil.
Jamil however did not ask Omar to explain why he was so eager to register as a voter when millions of genuine Malaysians did not bother to do so.
A total of 62 witnesses had testified at the RCI hearing since it began on Jan 14.
The current third session of hearing, which lasted only two days, ended today and will resume on March 5 for four days, with another session scheduled for March 18 to 21.
