Home Ministry looking into the possibility of issuing identity cards to foreign nationals in Sabah

SHAH ALAM - The Home Ministry is considering the suggestion by the Sabah state government to issue identity cards to foreign nationals in the state, strictly as means of an official identity document.

Home Minister Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainuddin said the move was to ensure every individual in Sabah has one form of official identity document that would allow them to seek jobs, among other amenities that the state and the federal government allow.

"We feel that it is a good suggestion because the jurisdiction falls on the home minister and we can issue this card for foreign nationals because at the very least everyone in our country would have an (identity) card.

"Because the problem in Sabah is very complicated. For example, a foreign national has been in the state for a long time, so if we want to deport them back to their country of origin, they have been here for 30 years. "So when it comes to the second or third generation, if we want to send them back to their country of origin, they do not know head or tails of where they came from but they have been living in Sabah and we know that they are foreign nationals.

"It is just that they don't have any form of identity card, so that is why we want to uniform everything and gave an identity card to foreign nationals,'' said Hamzah during a press conference after chairing a meeting for the Committee on the Management of Foreign Nationals in Sabah (JKPWAS).

Hamzah acknowledge the complications involved in getting the data on all foreign nationals in Sabah however stated that the issue could be done within the next three months.

However, Hamzah also stressed that if the identity cards are issued to foreign nationals, it is not a recognition of these individuals to receive Malaysian citizenship.

Among other recommendations brought at the meeting today was to increased enforcement actions as well as extend the period of birth certificates in the state from 42 days, as prescribed under the Sabah state enactment, to 90 days.

Hamzah said all these recommendations however will require immense political will not just from the Sabah state government, the Federal government but also from the people of Sabah.