Mositun (second right) exchanging greetings with Dr Ahmad Zahid during a dinner on Monday when the Deputy Prime Minister visited Kota Kinabalu.
KOTA KINABALU: Random scanning of identification cards should be conducted all over the country and not only at entry and exit points, said Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) secretary-general Datuk Johnny Mositun.
He said this is because there are many cases of fake Malaysian identity cards used by foreigners to pass themselves off as Malaysians, the Deputy State Assembly Speaker said in a statement Tuesday (Feb 20).
The most recent case was in Johor and it involved 20 Filipinos who were caught using fake or someone else's identification cards, he pointed out.
“But we have heard of cases of peddlers in Kuala Lumpur who were caught with dubious Malaysian identity cards, too. That is why the Immigration Department and National Registration Department (NRD) must also conduct random checks at these places,” he said.
“The media has also reported that some of those using dubious Malaysian identity cards have even gotten jobs as security guards. We must ensure that this does not happen again,” he added.
Mositun said that after all, weeding out dubious holders of identity cards is also one the objectives of Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on the presence of illegal immigrants in Sabah.
Mositun said this in response to Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s assurance that steps were being taken to detect holders of fake identification cards at all entry and exit points, particularly at airports.
Speaking to reporters during his visit to the police headquarters here on Monday (Feb 19), Dr Ahmad Zahid said he had ordered the Immigration and NRD to instruct their officers at all entry and exit points to carry out random scanning of identification cards to see if they were authentic or fake.
He said this practice was already adopted for travellers from the peninsula to Sabah and Sarawak.
Dr Ahmad Zahid, who is also Home Minister, was replying to a question from a journalist on the possibility of Islamic State militants using Sabah to obtain fake identity cards to infiltrate into the peninsula.
At the same time, he said steps had been taken to investigate the syndicates that were involved in the issuance of fake identification cards.
“Several arrests have been made and investigations are ongoing,” he said.
He added that monitoring and surveillance were being carried out with the assistance of the police and so far, there have been no arrests at other states in the country.
Mositun said that PBS appreciates the fact that the Government is paying attention to what the people are requesting especially on the issue of the country’s sovereignty.
“PBS has been requesting that all identity cards issued in Sabah be recalled and reissued in order to weed out the dubiously issued ones. We reiterate the need for this to be done urgently so that the problem can be resolved,” he added.
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