SIBU: Holders of green identity card (MyKas) in Kapit have been complaining that they could not use it to apply for jobs or to renew their driving licence which previously was not a problem.
Bukit Assek assemblyman Irene Chang wanted the Immigration Department to look into the matter.
“I was in Kapit to help to look into the citizenship issue among the locals there. Almost all those attending the forum on that day were those who had already obtained a green IC (MyKas). However, the locals there, mainly Dayaks, were not happy with their MyKas at all as they claimed that they could not do anything with it,” she pointed out.
Chang said previously with a MyKas, they were able obtain menial jobs and to apply for a driving licence.
However, for the past few years, this has been disallowed and motorists even found themselves unable to renew their driving licence.
She added that such things should not have happened as the purpose of the green IC was to provide the card holders a temporary resident stay in Malaysia and that the card is to be renewed every five years.
“This shouldn’t be the case and while the card is valid and subsisting, MyKas holders should be allowed to use it as a form of personal identification for the purpose of applying for certain kinds of jobs, to apply for driving licences and to get married. It is therefore not right for these MyKas holders in Kapit to be refused the use of their green cards for anything at all,” she said adding it is a sad thing that the card is rendered useless.
Chang also wanted the Home Ministry (KDN) to look into the massive problem of statelessness in Kapit where there are at least a few generations without personal documents.
In each of this generation, invariably they are of very big families with both parents and children who are stateless.
Most of the people who came to the forum on that day came from Rumah Long Singgut.
She was told that besides this longhouse, there was a lot of same problem in other longhouses in Kapit.
“KDN needs to arrange special task force just to tackle and handle these problems which are unique to those who stay in longhouses,” she said.
Chang believed that some cases may be solved as there were a few cases where the mother has a PR (permanent resident) status holding a red IC and yet the child was still only holding either a green IC or no IC at all.
She said that was not right as according to the law, in this kind of cases, the child should be given a Malaysian citizenship straightaway.
