Village head wants action on ‘identification issue’

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Affrizan (seated) explains some of the procedures to the applicants.

A VILLAGE head in Baram is putting what he calls the “identification issue” above development in his area.

“It’s okay if development reaches us late but what matters most is the issue of our identification because we have been living here for many generations,” said Tebaran Siden, head of Long Balau village in Tutoh, Baram.

Tebaran Siden

There are 12 large villages in the area with about 1,000 residents in Tebaran’s village – most of whom still do not have birth certificates.

“Our location is difficult to reach, making it even harder to handle matters of our identity. I really hope this can be resolved quickly without causing any inconvenience to either party concerned.

“We’re indigenous people and some of the things done here are different from what’s happening outside. For example, our midwives are mostly men and some people find this hard to believe, so getting birth certificates can be difficult for us.

“We community leaders are working hard to help our people. I don’t deny there are outsiders working in this area but I don’t know how they got in,” he said.

The Penans are forest dwellers, leading a nomadic life and relying on the forests for survival.

According to Tebaran, they are the people most affected by logging and all they ask for is to be recognised as Sarawakians as their ancestors have settled here for generations. They are facing difficulties in obtaining birth certificates and ICs.

Affrizan briefs the Penans on the unit’s operation at Long Menging.

The Penan Empowerment Networking Association (Pena) recently organised a five-day visit to Penan villages in Ba Magoh, Ulu Baram and Bario together with the National Registration Department (JPN), Miri Special Mobile Unit (UKBM) led by its chief Affrizan Bujang, and the National Film Development Corporation of Malaysia (Finas) to assist the Penans with the issue of birth certificates and MyKads.

Accompanying them were Pujut assemblyman Dr Ting Tiong Choon and local reporters.

Their first stop was Long Menging, about 10 hours from Miri city by four-wheel drive vehicles along logging roads, while the second was Bario, another 14-hour drive, also along logging roads.

Ting said a different standard operating procedure (SOP) should be developed for the rural communities in Sarawak and Sabah through more flexible specification requirements to address issues of citizenship and MyKad registration.

He said people in the interior, such as the Penans, were having problems getting their identity cards due to remoteness, financial and logistical issues in registering births, lack of education, and problems that have lasted for several generations, adding that all these made it difficult for them to get help.

“As we can hear from one of the village heads, if you need the whole family to take photos, it will cost them a lot. Besides, it’s troublesome for them to go to the JPN office to take photos and register. So we need to draft a different SOP.

“I think this UKBM is actually quite good because rather than them coming to us, we can go to them with the whole team which is more functional, and hopefully this operation will continue.

“I believe this is a very effective way and hope it will get more assistance, especially in funding, from the government so that we can help the rural areas more.”

Photo shows the difficult conditions to reach the villages.

Ting noted existing SOPs could not fully function to serve the rural communities due to various constraints faced by the residents, including telecommunication problems.

“The problem needs an effective solution to ensure no Sarawakians are left out of government aid and efforts are needed to avoid losses in terms human resources when thousands fail to get jobs as they have no identification documents.

“The special visit programme, organised by Pena in collaboration with UKBM, is very relevant in tracking and solving various related issues, especially among the Penan community,” he added.

 

Documentation issues

Pena chairperson Elia Bit said citizenship and identity documentation issues must be resolved before those affected could move forward.

“As I mentioned before, the Penans are already here even before the formation of Malaysia in 1963. So when the JPN came, I knew they had an SOP to interview the Penans – Where are your parents? Do your parents have documents?

“Of course they will say no. What do you expect? They have been here before Malaysia and the introduction of the registration law. They will say their parents are already deceased.

“But when asked was there any death certificate, they would answer ‘we die and return to the earth so there is no death certificate’. This poses a problem for JPN to process their applications.

“Since there is no death certificate, the birth certificate is not specified and the IC cannot be issued. This is passed on to the next generation.

“Then a member of the Penan community gets married and has children but the children’s status cannot be determined and this will be carried over to the next generation,” she explained.

Elia does not deny the Penans are far behind in terms of education, economic status, and other areas.

She said there were Penan children who excelled in education but the problem with identity documentation restricted them from furthering their studies and even getting a proper job.

She hoped the taskforce to be formed under the Home Ministry would be able to resolve the issue through full understanding of the political history of Sarawak vis-a-vis the formation of Malaysia.

 

Team members with locals at the end of the operation in Long Menging.

Applications received

UKBM received 42 cases related to applications for late registrations of birth certificates and identity cards and other transactions during the visit to Long Menging.

In Ulu Baram, birth certificates were presented to eight recipients from Penan villages in Ba Magoh and Ulu Limbang, while a total of 10 documents for late registration identity cards and other birth certificate issues were received in Bario.

UKBM covers the vast northern region areas. It’s not easy to traverse the rural areas over land, stopping at one village after another. This is not only time-consuming but can also be unsafe.

It is understood the problems faced by UKBM in processing applications involve not only the absence of marriage certificates but also the difficulties in detecting the applicants due to lack telecommunication facilities, among others.

Before conducting any operation, UKBM would inform the respective district offices so that the message can be conveyed to the Penan village heads or community leaders.

Meanwhile, members of the Penan community said they are hopeful all pending identification and citizenship issues could be resolved as soon as possible.

Rose Melai

Rose Melai from Ba Tik near Bario, said she represented the people from her village in forwarding their applications because not all were able to travel to Bario as it takes about two days on foot to get there.

“We have Ba Tik A and Ba Tik B with 21 doors and almost 90 residents. I’m helping to bring up various cases, especially on birth certificate issues. They’re Malaysian citizens but most do not have documentation to support their applications although some already got their ICs from previous applications.”

According to her, the main problem is that her village is situated in a remote area and it’s not affordable for the villagers to travel to towns or cities to attend to such matters.

This UKBM operation is helpful in that the villagers will try their best to turn up if they know about the operation even if they have to walk for two days to the place.

“Our village is not accessible to vehicles. We must be told way in advance of such operations because we need time to inform the other villagers who live far from each other. Relaying the message will definitely take time.

“But, as I said, the villagers would certainly come down to get their applications processed if they knew an operation is to be conducted,” Rose added.