Datuk Joseph Entulu Belaun
SIBU: Stringent measures are in place to prevent foreigners sneaking in their applications for Malaysian citizenship through certifications by community leaders.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Joseph Entulu Belaun said this yesterday when asked to comment on the disclosure by a community leader in Selangau area, Penghulu Balai Gara, on how a foreigner pretended to be an adopted child of a local family to apply for Malaysia citizenship.
Balai has said the case happened in his area in which the foreigner claimed he was the son of a local man in his application to the National Registration Department (NRD).
“Well, we have caught a few people who tried to sneak in their applications; we caught them, and so we rejected (their applications). But this is very rare – I think there were only two or three cases so far, and we have detected them.
“It is easy to detect their tricks – their lack of local knowledge and so on. They have been here for a few years then, they think they are good enough to speak Iban (language), but still we know how to detect their slant and their pronunciation,” Entulu, who is Selangau MP, told The Borneo Post yesterday.
Entulu, who heads the taskforce (PPK) at state level, said foreigners caught in the act were those who worked in the oil palm plantations.
He added he had insisted on certifications by longhouse chiefs to be fool-proof.
The longhouse chiefs knew all the names of the local residents under their jurisdiction, which was why their certification was very reliable.
Entulu also said generally penghulu knew the number of family members in each householder.
“Of course, sometimes, for the younger people in the longhouse, penghulu may not know their names, but they will still know how many kids that this head of household has, and therefore, their certification is also very necessary and very reliable,” Entulu said.