Dr Pamela Yong, the state Wanita MCA leader, said the recent arrests in Tawau of three men, including a registration official, proved that syndicates were still actively churning out fake documents to foreigners, for between RM3,500 and RM6,000.
“How far and deep do these treasonous and corrupt practices run? Are there bigger players or masterminds behind all these syndicates? Is the NRD taking any steps to prevent their officers or personnel from taking advantage of the system to earn a quick buck yet again?” she said.
Yong proposed that the NRD’s system be fully automated, with human engagement limited to as little as possible, in order to prevent corruption.
“There should be no more of this middlemen business. No more ‘ketua kampung’ to sign as witnesses or anything like that. This practice has only invited corruption,” she said.
The system should remove the authority of one person to sign and approve. She said applications should go through a committee, “as multilevel as possible” so that an application that fails to go through one level would be rejected.
She said that a proposal to recall MyKads and reissue new ones might flush out and identify fake MyKads, but that method should not be the only solution.
Yong said that a 2012 royal commission of inquiry into illegal immigrants in Sabah had acknowledged the existence of syndicates that issued Malaysian identity cards to illegal immigrants for profit. Many personnel of the Sabah NRD, including the director, were involved and syndicate members reaped RM11 million in profit in just seven years.
The recent arrests in Tawau should be a wake-up call, she said.
Unless the NRD guaranteed that its system was fool-proof, and dodgy officers were out of the way, solutions such as recalling and reissuing of new ICs would only create an opportunity and environment for more abuse.
Using the same flawed system, would amount to the government only giving criminals more business as they could sell the new ICs to their previous and existing clientele.
It would be a waste of more taxpayers’ funds for an exercise with no guarantee of success, she said.