PETALING JAYA: A Warisan leader has called on the national registration department (JPN) to set up a dedicated unit to ensure that the religious status of East Malaysians is properly featured on their MyKads.
Christopher Masudal said it is common for Christians in Sabah to have Muslim sounding names and vice-versa, especially among the Kadazan-Dusun-Murut (KDM) community in rural and interior areas.
“In fact, the use of ‘bin’ and ‘binti’ among Christians in rural and interior KDM communities is also widespread,” Masudal, the party’s strategic communications director, said in a statement.
He wondered if JPN officers automatically labelled non-Muslim Sabahans as Muslim based on their names, although such mistakes should not occur.
“The applicant would have already stated their religion on the application form, and even if the applicant is illiterate and requires JPN assistance, their religious status should have been confirmed earlier,” he said.
He was responding to a report in the Daily Express yesterday, in which the Kota Kinabalu High Court ruled that JPN had wrongly registered a man from Pitas, Sabah, and his three children as Muslims, even though they are Christians.
Justice Celestina Stuel Galid expressed concern about JPN’s “recurring administrative problems”, noting that religion sometimes recorded based on assumptions rather than factual or legal evidence, which were also seen in previous cases, even when applicants provided clear instructions.
Celestina said such mistakes are troubling, and expressed concern in particular for illiterate applicants from rural areas who rely on JPN officers for assistance.
Masudal also urged home minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail to consider a proposal by the party for a “fasttrack lane” at JPN to speed up MyKad applications for Sabahans in the rural and interior areas.
This and a special Sabah-Sarawak unit would prove the unity government’s commitment to affected communities, particularly KDM groups in the interior, he said.
