SABAH NRD ARRESTS FOUR, ONE INDONESIAN AND THREE FILIPINAS, FOR FAKE MYKADS

Enforcement unit of State NRD arrests four for fake MyKads

A staff bids farewell to Jaffear (right).

11th March, 2011 KOTA KINABALU: Barely two months after it was formed in January, the enforcement unit of the Sabah National Registration Department (NRD) proved its worth when it managed to arrest four foreigners for possession of fake MyKads.

The offenders were all women, one Indonesian and three Filipinas, who have already been sentenced to jail terms ranging from three months to a year.

They were convicted under Section 25 (1) of the National Registration Regulations (amended 2000) which carries a jail term of up to three years or a fine of not less than RM50,000 and not exceeding RM100,000.

Outgoing NRD Sabah director, Datuk Jaffear Henry, however pointed out that the unit is still small with only seven personnel in the Kota Kinabalu office.

It would still have to rely on the police in crimes related to possession of fake identity cards or another person’s identification document. These offences are known to be widespread in Sabah.

Jaffear was speaking to reporters during a press conference cum farewell party at his office here. He reached the retirement age of 58 yesterday and called it a day after spending 37 years and 1 month in the civil service.

Jaffear from Papar was the first Sabahan to lead the department in Sabah after his posting from the State Immigration Department. He was director for 2 years, 5 months and 2 days.

On claims by certain parties that the department issued identification cards without going through the proper channels, he said the allegations were baseless.

“In fact, it is not easy to get an identification card if the person is not qualified because the department will check the data in the system before we even process the application,” he said.

According to him, fake MyKads can be traced from the fingerprint of an individual and verified against records kept by the NRD. He went on to say that during his tenure none of his personnel were caught for wrongdoing under the Internal Security Act or ISA.