NRD should focus on weeding out illegal immigrants

KOTA KINABALU, April 29, 2011: Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) deputy president Datuk Eric Majimbun has taken the National Registration Department (NRD) to task for requesting DNA tests on two young Sabahans who have applied for MyKads.

 

The Government, Eric stressed, should not be too concerned about genuine Malaysians applying for their identification documents but instead focus on weeding out illegal immigrants who have obtained Malaysian identification documents through dubious means.

 

The directive by NRD to Yap Loong Chin, the father of the two young girls was ridiculous, the Sepanggar member of parliament said in a statement.

 

He said this when commenting on a newspaper report pertaining to the NRD's directive issued to Yap in the process of applying for a MyKad for his daughters aged 14 and 16.

 

Yap was requested by NRD Putrajaya to obtain DNA tests at the family's own cost since the girls were born before their parents' marriage was made official.

 

As both the girls were issued with birth certificates, Yap questioned the need to have the girls undergo the DNA test.

 

Eric said that the NRD request was akin to the Government neglecting all the laws, tradition and culture which Sabah has practised for generations.

 

"Is Malaysia so advanced in technology that the Government feels the need to thus neglecting what Sabah has been practising all this while?" he said.

If so then the government should get all the illegal immigrants who have obtained citizenship through dubious means to undergo DNA tests to make sure and prove that they are truly Malaysians, he stressed.