It’s good to read that MIC secretary-general, Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam admitting that there are still about 20,000 Indians throughout the country without birth certificates or MyKad. This is a smaller number than the 80,000 or 30,000 bandied about earlier. He says MIC was currently resolving several hundred cases involving Indians who were in the process of obtaining their identification documents.

“This situation arises mainly because a majority of them were born in villages often located in estates. Their deliveries were handled by midwives, many of whom have since passed away, making it difficult for us to get any record of their birth.

“In some cases, newborns were sometimes given up for adoption by their poor parents,” he said .

He said at present, the NRD would require an individual to show proof that he or she was born in Malaysia by producing a letter from the hospital or clinic where they were born. “This is where the problem lies. Many of those born in estates don’t have any documentation. This fault lies with the parents who should be more responsible in registering the births of their children.

“However, the MIC will work closely with the Home Ministry to assist as many Indians as we can to get them the relevant documents,” he said.

Dr Subramaniam was referring to a recent New Straits Times report which highlighted the plight of R. Ragu who was told by the National Registration Department (NRD) in Putrajaya to get a letter from Sultan Azlan Shah to enable him to obtain a permanent identification document.

Ragu only had a birth certificate bearing his father’s name and place of birth as proof of his citizenship.

“This is the kind of cases we are talking about. We do not want to see any child deprived of their right to a sound education due to the lack of proper birth papers and will continue doing our part to assist them in every way,” he added.

So, Dr S.Subra is saying that more cases are happening because the NRD had introduced an additional rule. Therein lies the problem. At cabinet meetings or ministerial talks in the last 2 to 3 years, surely this new rule of NRD would have been highlighted by the MIC representatives. Or weren’t they? Don’t tell me only now MIC know about this.

He easily blames the parents (who are of course partly to be blamed – together with estate management, MIC, Health Ministry, NRD, and NGOs). While parents are at fault, it is also alarming to realise that this problem had been there all this while. If in a year, MIC can help to solve 100 cases, in the past 30 years, that would be just 3000 cases. Let’s put it at 500 cases per year, meaning 15,000 cases solved in last 30 years. So, how many people were without IC before this?

The action to get people their documentation should go hand in hand with education and awareness campaign.Were the campaigns ineffective? Were such campaigns in place at all? For a party that boasts of the most number of Indians, (was it 500,000 members?) it seems to be an disaster that this problem was not solved or reduced dramatically. Whose fault is it – members, grassroot leaders, or the leaders themselves? How about the media? How many times did we ever hear any campaign to get your children registered or advertisement on the importance of identity documents? Can the readers recall? I can only remember THR’s ad that appeared in the last few months. Do we see any ads inserted in newspapers or TV airtimes? How about putting ad during movies in cinema that says “GET YOUR MYKAD TODAY!” or something like that?

Finally, action + awareness is meaningless without the infrastructure or system. What measures were taken to bring the government to the public instead of blaming the public? Did NRD provide mobile registration counters? Were there “turun padang” exercises to visit estates and other remote areas or were this places conveniently ignored? Are they Tamil speaking officers attached to the department offices to help this rural folks?

If some folks in Sabah can get instant MyKad as alleged by various quarters, why not these 20,000 people? Need to grease some palms or due to lack of economic and political value?

In short, years of inaction, improper strategy/planning, “tidak apa” attitude, and lack of willpower and persuasion (and perhaps respect) at the top level are coming back to bite us in the posterior.

Well done!

UPDATE: NRD’s director-general Datuk Mohd Abdul Halim Muhamad response is below:

The National Registration Department (NRD) will go on a nationwide search to register “stateless” persons, as well as look into the plight of odd-job worker R. Ragu.

“I will follow the order of the minister to go to certain areas in all the states to help the stateless people,” said NRD.

On Thursday, Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar told the department to check the situation of stateless people and give them identity cards.

When asked about Perak Sultan Azlan Shah’s call to NRD to issue a temporary identity card to Ragu, Abdul Halim said that he would follow the minister’s directive.