Sabah Immigration Dept wants better way to profile IMM13 holders

By Olivia Miwil - November 16, 2018 @ 8:30pm

Sabah Immigration Department director Datuk Musa Sulaiman (left) and Sabah National Registration Department director Datuk Ismail Ahmad speaking to the media at a dialogue on legal matters with members of parliament and state assemblymen here today. Pic by NSTP/Malai Rosmah Tuah

KOTA KINABALU: The state Immigration Department wants to set up a more efficient system to do profiling on IMM13 holders.

Its director, Datuk Musa Sulaiman, said the department was responding to the recent re-registration of thousands of refugees and their children which had resulted in misunderstanding among that public that the department was issuing citizenships to them.

“On Oct 1, the Immigration Department’s special unit had profiling for those IMM13 holders to record their parents’ whereabouts and other details.

“However, we were unable to control the crowd of thousands due to lack of manpower,” he said during a dialogue on legal matters with members of parliament and state assemblymen here.

Musa said IMM13 documents had been issued to Filipino refugees and their children for 50 years.

He said in 2013 the then director put on hold of any kind of registration to make way for a Royal Commission of Inquiry on illegal immigrants in the state.

The department’s database shows that there are about 99,000 IMM13 holders, but only about 55,000 have been renewing their passes annually.

Musa said the refugees who did not renew their documents could have many died or returned to their home country.

Meanwhile, Sabah National Registration Department revealed that as of May this year, there were 2,894,984 citizens, including 44,482 permanent residents, and 24,605 temporary residents.

The department said there were 644,499 Kadazandusun, 477,514 Bajau, 112,813 Murut, 265,619 Chinese and 1,325,452 belonging to ethnic groups such as Sungai, Kadayan, Iranun, Idahan, Rungus, Lundayeh, Brunei, Suluk, Tidung and Bulongoan.

Its director, Datuk Ismail Ahmad, said one of the problematic issues was issuing citizenships to the children of unregistered marriages between citizens and non-citizens.

“Under (Article) 15A of the Federal Constitution (Citizenship Registration Under Special Circumstances), they are eligible to apply, but subject to approval by the Home Ministry,” he said.