PENAMPANG, 21 Nov 2008: Upko Youth has questioned the move by the National Registration Department (NRD) to re-issue the green MyKad to stateless people in the country, particularly in Sabah.
Upko Youth chief Arthur Sen said the move would create anxiety among the people and a new round of political pressure in the state.
“There are still various issues to be resolved such as the influx of immigrants into Sabah, claims about citizenship being given to thousands of immigrants, fake documents and the ever increasing number of IMM13 holders.
“Now we are faced with yet another predicament, which is the issuance of green MyKad, which can undermine the rights of the people of Sabah,” he said.
Sen was commenting on the nationwide exercise to issue green MyKad to holders of Malaysian birth certificate as well as to existing green MyKad holders, resulting in thousands of people flocking to the NRD offices in Kota Kinabalu and Tawau.
Sen said Upko Youth was questioning why the need to re-issue the green MyKad which was frozen since 2004.
He said the green MyKad would only benefit foreigners who were issued with Malaysian birth certificate minus the citizenship.
“The green MyKad is valid for five years. The question is, what will be their status after that?” he said, adding that there was every possibility that they or their descendents could be given permanent residency and citizenship at a later stage.
He also said that the re-issuance of green MyKad could negatively impact the state’s demographic profile in the future. — Bernama
