An image of the letter has gone viral on social media since Monday and some internet users have expressed suspicion that it indicates the state government has launched a project similar to the infamous Projek IC.
The letter was issued by the rural development ministry and addressed to all district officers in the state.
Sen, the former Upko Youth chief who recently quit the party, urged the ministry to explain whether the new government had introduced its own registration procedure or was continuing a previous practice.
“Even if this is a normal procedure, I think it is quite uncalled for because we should be solving the illegal immigrant problem first and putting into action all the recommendations of the RCI on illegal immigrants,” he said in reference to the royal commission set up in 2012.
However, he told FMT it was possible that the letter indicated a move to register Sabahans for identification documents. If that was so, he added, it would be an effort to improve people’s lives and should be welcomed.
But he also pointed to a 2015 United Nations Children’s Fund report that said Sabah accounted for more than half of the 2.6 million non-citizens living in Malaysia. These include illegal immigrants, refugees, stateless people and foreign workers.
“This means more than 1.3 million are in Sabah,” he said. “Furthermore, Deputy Chief Minister Wilfred Madius Tangau claimed on Sunday that 80% of illegal immigrants obtained their citizenship through fraudulent means.
“So, nobody can blame Sabahans for being jumpy when a suspicious looking form like this suddenly comes out.”
The letter, dated Aug 9, asks for information on villages and islands situated far from the district offices of the National Registration Department (NRD). It says the purpose of the exercise is to enable the Sabah branch of NRD to solve the problem of late registrations of births and deaths.
Sen said the people of Sabah are suspicious of any action that looks like an attempt to legalise people whose nationalities are questionable, especially those living on remote islands and near the Indonesian and Philippine borders.
He noted that two working committees were formed after the RCI on illegal immigrants but no reports had been tabled in Parliament.
In fact, he added, the public had yet to be told whether the committees still existed or had been dissolved after the government changed hands in May.
He urged the government to appoint new committees if the two had been dissolved. This time, he said, the members should be chosen from among professionals instead of politicians.
Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku president Jeffrey Kitingan told FMT he would be questioning the state government on the purpose of the letter.
A ministry official told FMT the letter was part of a procedure to issue birth and death certificates to those who had yet to receive them. “It is not to issue ICs,” he said.