Dr M's right-hand men implicated in citizenship-for-votes scam

Two of former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad's closest confidantes were today implicated by witnesses testifying before the royal commission of inquiry (RCI) into the alleged citizenship-for-votes scam in Sabah.

A former Sabah National Registration Department (NRD) officer testified that he and the others stayed at the house of Abdul Aziz Shamsuddin, who was then Mahathir's political secretary, when they were roped in to issue blue identity cards to the immigrants.

Yakup Damsah, who was then Tamparuli NRD chief, told the RCI that he and the other NRD officers were flown from Sabah to Kuala Lumpur, from where they worked out of Aziz's house in Kampung Pandan.

"After receiving instructions from then-Sabah NRD chief Abdul Rauf Sani, we were ordered to go to KL and were placed at Pak Aziz Shamsuddin's (right) residence in Kampung Pandan," Yakup said.

He said they were tasked to sign the identity cards that were to be issued to the immigrants, which were subsequently laminated at the NRD headquarters in Petaling Jaya and shipped to the Kota Kinabalu NRD for distribution.

Detained under Internal Security Act

"We were briefed about our special assignment by a person not known to us, named 'Mat Nor'. He told us to issue blue identity cards to the immigrants," he said.

Yakup, who was eventually detained under the Internal Security Act, said he was aware that the operation was illegal, but he followed the instructions as he was a public servant.

"We were told that we would be protected from any legal action," he said.

Yakup said his group signed a total of 40,000 blue identity cards within a month, based on the filled up application forms provided to them.

"We did not look at the forms in detail, we just signed... We know that they were immigrants, mostly Indonesians and Filipinos, but we did not know whether they were legal immigrants or not," he said.

He added that the intent of their action was to increase the number of Muslim voters in Sabah and to ensure that these people would vote for Umno in the 1994 Sabah state election.

Concurrently, Yakup said, his group was also involved in another operation, in which they did not grant the immigrants citizenship but issued them with temporary identity card receipts (NRD receipts) with an expiry date, purely for the purpose of the election.

'Ex-deputy home minister also implicated'

Testifying on this earlier, former Sabah National Registation Department director Ramli Kamaruddin, who succeeded Abdul Rauf, said this operation began close to the election date.

Ramli said the operation was carried out after he personally received instructions from then-deputy home minister Megat Junid Megat Ayub (left).

Elaborating on the operation, Ramli said he was instructed to issue identity card receipts to immigrants using the details of people who were already in the electoral roll but had never voted before.

“I received a call two weeks before the 1994 Sabah state election to meet Megat Junid at a hotel. I was instructed to help to ensure that a state government endorsed by the federal government would win.

“I was instructed to issue NRD receipts using the name and IC numbers of voters already in the electoral roll, with the sole purpose of allowing them to vote,” Ramli added.

NRD receipts are temporary identity card slips that are issued prior to the granting of a proper identity card. This document is sufficient to enable a person to vote, he explained.

The other personality present at the hotel then was Osu Sukam, who would go on to become Sabah chief minister in 1999.

When contacted late this evening, Aziz's immediate response was: "I don't remember anything about this matter. Thank you."


'NRD's G17 processed over 100k blue ICs for foreigners'

Nigel Aw

A special unit dubbed G17 operated out of the Sabah National Registration Department (NRD) headquarters in Kota Kinabalu beginning 1990 and was responsible for processing the application forms for some 100,000 blue identity cards for immigrants, the royal commission of inquiry (RCI) on immigrants in Sabah was told today.

Kee Dzulkifly Kee Abdul Jalil, who was part of the unit, said he was tasked to write down the names and numbers on the blue identity cards that was then done manually before they were shipped to Kuala Lumpur.

“I wrote down the names according to what is in the application forms that were given to us,” he said, adding that the unit processed an estimated 100,000 such identity cards.

Furthermore, he said his unit was also responsible for issuing letters of approval for birth certificates, which he estimated the unit had produced some 200,000 for the children of immigrants.

“This approval letter would allow them to get hospitals or district office to issue them with a birth certificate,” he said. He admitted to being paid RM80,000 for his work.

Primarily Muslims targeted

Beginning 1987, statutory declaration were no longer accepted for the application of blue identity card and birth certificates were required.

He added that later, such applicants were charged RM300 each and the funds were then channeled to G17.

He said the targets were primarily Muslims from Indonesia, the Philippines and Pakistan, some of whom were later recruited to work for unnamed political parties.

He was later detained under the Internal Security Act from 1995 until 1997, followed by another year of house arrest.

Also testifying today were Kee Dzulkifly’s former NRD colleagues who were all involved in the operation and detained under ISA, namely Asli Sidup, Alcop Damsah @ Yakup Damsah, Nasit Sugip and their boss Ramli Kamaruddin.


Ex-NRD chief: Immigrants made voters, not citizens

Nigel Aw
7:24PM Jan 16, 2013

Former Sabah National Registration Department (NRD) chief Ramli Kamarudin admitted that his agency was involved in making it possible for Indonesians and Filipinos to vote in the 1994 Sabah state election, but denied that they were made citizens.

This, he explained, was because the immigrants were not issued identity card receipts in their name, but instead were issued receipts using the names and identity card numbers from people already in the electoral roll who never voted before, or are dead.

The receipts are temporary identity card slips, issued prior to the granting of a proper identity card. This document is sufficient to allow for voting.

"But because the receipts are not in their name, they cannot go to the NRD and later convert them to a blue identity card.

"Furthermore, the slips also have an expiry date of three months," he told the royal commission on inquiry (RCI) of the immigrants in Sabah.

He added that after the state election, measures were also taken to gather all the receipts and destroy them.

"During election day, we gathered them in one place and then used buses to send them to vote.

'We bussed and paid them'

"We paid each of them about RM10 to RM20, because they could not go to work and so we had to compensate them," he said.

On average, he said his team planted an average of 200 immigrants with receipts at selected state seats deemed as "black areas” for BN.

Ramli, like several NRD officers involved, was eventually detained under the Internal Security Act.

Earlier, he had explained that he began the receipt operation after personally receiving instructions from the then deputy home minister Megat Junid Megat Ayub at a hotel in Kota Kinabalu, two weeks before the 1994 Sabah state election.

Ramli, who was previously with the National Security Council under the Prime Minister's Department, said he was asked to helm the Sabah National Registration Department in 1993.

"Before I was sent there, I was briefed to help support the creation of a government that would be in favour to the Islam religion in Sabah.

"When they mentioned this, I was attracted and I agreed to help bring a government that was supportive of the Islam religion to power," he said, adding that this meant ousting Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS).