Change of IC leaves widow in the lurch

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Rose showing a photostat copy of her blue identity card with red square marks while holding her new card on her left hand.

MIRI: A 57-year-old widow, Rose Sulau Tugau, from Long Selatong in Ulu Baram said it never crossed her mind to ask why red square marks were printed on her blue identity card (MyKad) all this while.

However, the Kenyah woman started facing problems after she changed her identity card which was replaced by a red identity card two years ago.

Rose said she changed her identity card at the National Registration Department (JPN) in Kuala Lumpur when she visited her adopted son in Peninsular Malaysia. Since then, she realised that she was unable to enjoy the same rights as her three siblings who had Malaysian citizenship because her citizenship status had been changed.

As a rural folk, she did not know the importance of birth certificate. All she had to prove her citizenship status was her certificate of baptism and confirmation issued to her by a local church in 1960.

“I was born in Long San and my village is at Long Selatong. Thus, I really hope the relevant authority will be able to assist me so I can get government assistance for my next major operation which will cost more than RM20,000.

“The most important thing now is to get my citizenship status right, only then I would able to receive welfare assistance from the government,” she told the media when met in front of Miri MP Dr Michael Teo’s clinic at Miri Waterfront commercial area yesterday. Although she is not entitled for government welfare assistance, she said she did receive compassionate assistance from the Welfare Department.

Rose is unable to walk due to her severe back pain due to spinal injury and most of the time she moves around by crawling. When there is a need for her to go out particularly for follow-up medical treatment, she would use a wheelchair donated by generous people.

Now, she is living alone at Kampung Pasir after her husband passed away due to brain cancer last year The mother who did not have any children of her own said she had not heard from her adopted son since coming back after visiting him. She does have relatives but most of them live far away in Ulu Baram and cannot afford to assist her financially.

Present was social activist Mujan Jok, who is the personal assistant to Dr Teo and chairman of Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) Miri branch.