25-05-2025
What about ‘Projek IC' holders, Sabah MIC Chief?
Published on: Sunday, May 25, 2025
Published on: Sun, May 25, 2025 Text Size: I must thank Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun, State Minister of Finance, for introducing the automatic personal accident insurance scheme to cover all 2.7 million Sabahans aged 30 days to 80 years whose MyKid or MyKad carries Sabah State codes 12, 47, 48, 49, effective from May 1 this year for 3 years. Are Malaysians with the above codes truly Sabahans? Activist-cum-surgeon Dr Chong Eng Leong rightly pointed out that there are Sabahans whose MyKad are coded differently – your DE report on 21 May 2025. But he did not mention that there are hundreds of thousands of Project IC citizens whose MyKad are coded 12. His recent book entitled 'Population Explosion and Demographic Shift in Sabah', with much reference to the 2013 Royal Commission of Inquiry on Immigrants (RCI) in Sabah, reveals that there were more than 120,000 blue old ICs with numbers H0xxxxxx issued to foreigners. Most of them used Sijil Akuan stating that the owner is Sabah-born, thus citizen by operation of law. Their MyKad are coded 12.
Advertisement Additionally, his book also reveals that there were 300,000 late registrations of birth by year 1992, and 740,381 by year 2006. But, they did not have inquiry by the Magistrate Court as stipulated under the Birth and Death Ordinance Cap. 123 of Sabah which is still valid by today. With these unendorsed birth certificates as evidence, some of them were issued the blue old ICs, but many were issued the Bunga Raya blue ICs with 12-digits numbers. The Sabah RCI disclosed that by year 2012, from the late registration of birth, there were 139,010 blue ICs issued by operation of law, and 7,810 blue ICs issued by application for citizenship. These estimated 250,000 Project IC citizens whose MyKad are coded 12 – are they Sabahans? One of them is the current Sabah MIC (Malaysia Indian Congress) Chief, appointed a board member of Sawit Kinabalu, a Sabah government-linked company. He was Sabah RCI witness No. 116. (There were 22 immigrants who were issued blue old ICs by operation of law called to be witnesses in the Sabah RCI). In early 2022, former PBS President Datuk Seri Dr Maximus Ongkili called on the relevant authorities to carry out a background check on this Sabah MIC Chief. At the same time, Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji promised to investigate the citizenship of this immigrant-turned-Malaysian, but nothing come out of it. Can Masidi or the Sabah State government please clarify if these Project IC citizens are truly Sabahans? Curious The views expressed here are the views of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of the Daily Express. If you have something to share, write to us at: [email protected]
