KOTA KINABALU: An emotional witness caused a stir and temporary halt to proceedings of the Royal Commission Inquiry on illegal immigrants in Sabah here when she burst into tears when conducting officer Jamil Ariffin asked about her sad childhood events.
Lung Sim Yee, who was born in Hainan, China, could not hold back her tears when Jamil asked her to confirm that her father had abandoned them and they had to fend for themselves in China.
She took about five minutes to compose herself before replying in the affirmative.
“Is it true that your father abandoned his family in China and that when you were 14 years old, your mother had applied to the Chinese government for permission to bring you and your sister to Hong Kong to look for your father?
“And is it true that when you arrived in Hong Kong, you found out that he had remarried a Malaysian?” Jamil had asked.
After composing herself, Lung replied: “Yes.”
She also confirmed that her mother then got a job in a factory and that they lived on her salary and the money that her father sent to them.
According to Lung, after staying three years in Hong Kong, she and her sister traveled to Sabah to stay with their grandparents in Tawau, where she met her future husband and got married in 1986.
Lung also confirmed that she was issued with a green identity card in the late 1970s and received a replacement card in 1988.
In 1989, she applied for a MyPR and it was approved, Lung said, adding that her husband had assisted her to apply for a blue identity card.
“I received a letter from Putrajaya in 2010 about my application and went to the National Registration Department in Tawau to take an oath. I also paid a fee of RM300. I then received my blue identity card,” she said, adding that she had registered as a voter in 2012.
When asked by lawyer Ansari Abdullah, who is representing Dr Chong Eng Leong, whether there was any test done on her proficiency in Bahasa Malaysia, Lung replied: “I was interviewed in Bahasa Malaysia when I applied for the red identity card.”