KOTA KINABALU: Immigrants were recruited as phantom voters during the 1994 State Election, according to former National Registration Department (NRD) director Ramli Kamarudin.
Testifying before the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on Immigrants in Sabah yesterday, Ramli said he was instructed to issue temporary identity card (IC) receipt to immigrants to allow them to vote in the election.
Ramli, a former Internal Security Act (ISA) detainee, claimed the instruction came directly from Deputy Director General of NRD and the then deputy home affairs minister.
“I was instructed to help ensure candidates endorsed by the ruling would win.
“Among the things that were instructed was to issue JPN receipts to immigrants using the names already in the electoral roll. The exercise was for areas categorized as “grey” and “black” which were very difficult for the government to win,” he said.
“Apart from me, my officers were also present as witnesses to verify that it was not my own decision and was only acting based the instructions by the persons in charge.
“I had explained during the meeting that the instructions wwre not in accordance with the laws and regulations but the deputy minister insisted it needed to be done for political interest.
“For me it was an official directive from the person in charge, and I despite advising against it had to carry it out,” said Ramli who also testified that he followed the instructions voluntarily.
He said between 200 and 400 of these temporary receipts were used by non-citizens to vote in each of the five or six constituencies involved.
According to him, the receipts were given specifically for voting purposes and there was no way they could have been used by the immigrants to apply for identification cards.
He explained that the temporary documents has an expiry period of only three months and no application for IC were filled prior to their issuance, and therefore they could not be used for issuing IC.