KOTA KINABALU: The exercise to register immigrants in the state in the mid 1980s was aimed at finding out the number of transient migrants that are in Sabah, Institute of Development Studies Sabah (IDS) officer, Macarius Sabinus said.
Macarius, who was the 109th witness called to give a statement to the Royal Commission of Inquiry, told the Panel that the Government of the day which was Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) wanted to know how many immigrants there are in Sabah at the time.
Macarius said that he was involved in the registration exercise as he was seconded to the Chief Minister Department’s Settlement Unit from 1986 to part of 1988 where his job was to assist the unit conduct a survey and registration of immigrants in Sabah.
There were more than 12 teams comprising of 12 to 13 personnel each and he was among those who were sent to Sandakan, Lahad Datu, Tawau and Sapulut in the interior to collect data on the immigrants in the areas and register them, he said.
During the proceedings, Commissioner Tan Sri Herman Luping asked Macarius to explain the purpose of the exercise to which the latter replied, “to find out the number of immigrants both legal and illegal in Sabah. Purely that and nothing else as we do not know the Terms of Reference for the exercise.
“What the government of the day wanted was to record them (immigrants) because their numbers (in Sabah) were increasing,” Macarius said.
Under questioning by conducting officer, Manoj Kurup, Macarius also said that the immigrants themselves were curious about the exercise and had asked those involved in the survey and registration exercise as to its purpose.
“We informed them that it is only for survey and registration, not for the issuance of any Malaysian identification document. We did however issue those who had registered with ‘Kad Burung Burung’ which was issued by the Chief Minister’s Department as verification.
“There were also immigrants who were in possession of Blue Malaysian IC who came to register themselves. This was because, as I was informed, most of them were holding fake Malaysian IC and that they wanted to register because they felt that their identification document was not genuine,” he said.
When asked by Commissioner Datuk Henry Chin if he had reported to his superiors about the dubious documents, Macarius replied, “Yes, and every time we came across dubious Malaysian identification documents, we would refer the finding to our headquarters for further action.
The personnel carrying out the registration would also photocopy the identification document but did not confiscate it as they are not empowered to do so, he said and stressed that only the National Registration Department officer is authorized to do that.
Macarius also disclosed that his team had come across several cases of fake ‘Kad Burung Burung’ documents when they were conducting the registration exercise in Sandakan.
“The individuals who were in possession of the ‘Kad Burung Burung’ said that they obtained the document in Bongao, in the Philippines. So we checked the documents against those issued by the Chief Minister’s Department and found that the serial numbers as well as the stamp were not the same.
“We reported the matter to the headquarters and police’s special branch,” he said, adding that these people were registered and issued with the actual ‘Kad Burung Burung’.
Macarius also disclosed that the teams registered about 300 people daily during the almost two years exercise.