KUALA LUMPUR: The lawyer of Abdul Mutalib
Taib and his family is calling on the Government to restore his Permanent
Resident status and his children�s citizenship.
Counsel Charles Hector said the National Registration
Department (NRD) must admit its mistake and not allow the family to be
victimised, especially the children.
�The fault, if any, lies with
the NRD, Immigration Department and the Government of Malaysia, and not on
Abdul Mutalib and his family,� said Hector in a statement to The Malay
Mail yesterday.
He said these departments issued the entry permits,
identity cards (ICs), birth certificates, passports, the spousal visa, and
the invite for the Bahasa Melayu test for Abdul Mutalib�s citizenship
applications, among others.
�After all these years, they (the
departments) cannot now blame and/or victimise Abdul Mutalib and his
family,� said Hector.
�These documents were not obtained through
unlawful means. They were all issued normally and lawfully by the relevant
Government departments.�
He also pointed out that when the
children�s documents were issued, the applications were made by the
parents.
Abdul Mutalib, from Medan, Indonesia, had applied for and
obtained his IC from the NRD on April 4, 2000. His MyKad was also issued
the same year.
The NRD, said Hector, had also acknowledged Abdul
Mutalib�s application for citizenship.
His children�s passports
were issued by the Immigration Department on Oct 21, 2003 and the father
was present at all those times.
Furthermore, his wife�s spousal
visa was renewed every six months, the most recent on March 18 this
year.
Why then, asked Hector, was there no action taken all these
years against Abdul Mutalib if the authorities had �wanted� him since
1996, the year his PR status was allegedly revoked.
Hector was also
responding to statements made by both the NRD and the Immigration
Department pertaining to Abdul Mutalib�s detention at the Sepang
Immigration depot since his arrest on March 23 this year.
�The
Order for Detention and the Order for Removal, both of which were dated
April 22 this year, were handed to Abdul Mutalib,� he said.
On the
same day, Hector revealed, the De- claration under Section 14(4)(b) of the
Immigration Act 1959/63 (Amendment 2002) and another Notice under Section
14(5) of the same Act were also given to him.
�In the Notice, Abdul
Mutalib was given seven days to make his appeal. But appeals have been
made, first on April 27 and also on April 28,� said Hector.
The
first appeal was addressed to the Home Minister Datuk Azmi Khalid while
the second was to the Director-General of Immigration, Datuk Mohd Jamal
Kamdi, and meant for him to forward also to Azmi.
In the second
appeal made on Thursday, there was also a request for the grounds for the
various declarations, orders and notices to be provided because without
this, an effective and proper appeal cannot be made.
�Abdul Mutalib
cannot be deported before the lapse of the time for appeal, and that too,
if there was no appeal,� said Hector.
�As there were appeals made,
deportation cannot take place until the appeal has been considered by the
Minister, and the result of the appeal, together with grounds be given to
Abdul Mutalib.�
In total, said Hector, five letters were sent to
the NRD, Immigration, and the Home Minister.
�But there was not a
single response. What is the use of writing letters and making appeals if
there is no response at all?� he asked.
As for Abdul Mutalib�s
detention under the Internal Security Act in 1995, Hector pointed out it
cannot be taken as proof that the person is guilty of any offence as the
detention was without trial.
Yesterday, The Malay Mail front-paged
the NRD�s statement that in 1996, Abdul Muta- lib�s PR was
revoked.
However, NRD�s director of Investigations and Enforcement
unit, Datin Habsah Wahid, had stated that the reasons for the order were
not known.
On this, Hector questioned if such an order existed as
there is no proof of it and he claimed that both the NRD and the
Immigration had failed to even raise this matter in all their dealings
with Abdul Mutalib when he dealt with them throughout the
years.
�If nine years ago, when the order allegedly issued was
acted upon, there would not have been this much disruption to this family
of six. It is very unjust to suddenly disrupt this loving family now,�
said Hector.
Abdul Mutalib�s wife, Romita Hasibuan, at a Press
conference at the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia�s (Suhakam) offices
on Wednesday, claimed he was wrongfully arrested.
Romita, a
housewife who is also from Me- dan, was accompanied by her children �
Maruly Aziz, 12, Sarah Nor Varah, 11, Yona- tan Adam Fauzi, nine, and
Ismael Shay Putra, six � when she handed a memorandum to Suhakam�s
representative Datuk Siva Subramaniam.
The memorandum, among
others, had pleaded with Suhakam to help the family fight for their rights
as immigrants to this
country. |
