The forgotten man

Tama Tijun, 77, has done his bit for the country but he still doesn’t have a birth certificate and identity card

MIRI: Seventy-seven-year-old Tama Tijun @ Sayang Yee Jalong of Long Banga in rural Baram wonders why up to now he has not been issued a birth certificate and an identity card.

This is despite him giving a good part of his life serving the nation.

According to his son Nelson Karel, his father had served with British and Gurkha soldiers to defend Sarawak’s border near Batu Kalong from intrusion during the Indonesian Confrontation.

“My father was even given a shotgun to help safeguard the nation’s sovereignty. Until today, he still has the licence and frequently obtains cartridges from the district office in Miri.

“Currently, my father is also a member of Rela for Long Bangga and also a member of Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) but despite all the loyalty and contributions, why were
his applications for an IC still not approved?” asked Nelson.

‘Efforts to get birth certificate, identity card still futile’

He said he had to go the media (The Borneo Post) to highlight his father’s plight as up to-date he had almost exhausted all efforts to help his father apply for a birth certificate and an identity card.

“My father and myself had relentlessly pursued the applications since the past 40 years, and between 2003 and 2010 a total of four resubmissions of applications were done.

“The latest one was on August 11 last year with all the supporting documents and endorsement from the then Telang Usan elected representative YB Lihan Jok, the Penghulu and Ketua Kampong which was also rejected,” he lamented, adding that his efforts in flying to Kuala Lumpur to meet senior officials of the Home Affairs Ministry also failed to get support for the application. Nelson claimed that he spent not less than RM3,000 in the last few years solely to make arrangement for his father obtain his birth certificate and identity card.

This was to cover expenses incurred for him travelling to Kuala Lumpur and Kuching, and for his father and mother who had to travel frequently between Long Banga and Miri to pursue the matter.

“It is not so much about the money although we have to travel some 12 hours including through logging road, it is the recognition that my father wants.

“He asks for nothing more but only a birth certificate and an identity card. These are his only wishes from the democratic government so that he can exercise his voting rights and also travel out of Sarawak with his children to see the world,” he stressed.

Right now, Nelson said his father only stays in the village and travels only within the state despite the ability of his nine children – all Malaysian citizens including one who is a primary school headmaster – to bring him for vacations outside Sarawak.

“It is very tragic and sad for him and for us. Our mother had her IC last year although the same efforts and time were spent to apply for the important documents and yet the National Registration Department still has doubts on my father’s status.

“It is undeniable that he migrated from the nearby Indonesian village in Long Banga but that was over 60 years ago, but why the discrimination, even my late uncle, the brother of my father, who was the first headman of Long Bangga was also issued an IC,” he questioned.

Nelson appealed to the government, in the spirit of 1Malaysia, to speedily look into and approve his father’s application for the birth certificate and identity card.

He said he could understand why the application was initially rejected due to insufficient supporting documents.

Besides the initial application used the name Tama Tijun (which was the traditional name given to his father soon after the couple had their first child) instead of Sayang Yee Jalong.

But he sees no reason that after so much effort and furnishing the relevant supportive documents, the application made last year was also rejected on the ground that his father might not really be a Malaysian.

“77 years of age and living in Malaysia for so many years with all the contributions, and all of our nine siblings having identification cards including our mother, Sipong Ape, 70, why is it so difficult for the government to give a piece of important document to my father?” queried Nelson.

Nelson is the second eldest in the family of nine consisting of five sisters and four brothers.

The eldest is Tijun, followed by Nelson, Mina, Lim, Linus, Dayang and Rose. Two others, Tinggang and Mary, died years back.

Nelson, 53 himself is a businessman, Lim works as a rig foreman with an oil and gas company, Linus (headmaster of SK Long Sukang), Rose (pastor) while all his other sisters are housewives.