By Daniel John Jambun
Borneo’s Plight in Malaysia Foundation (BoPiMaFo)
KOTA KINABALU: Borneo’s Plight in Malaysia Foundation (BoPiMaFo) notes that the National Registration Department’s (NRD) recent statement on the granting of Permanent Resident status and Malaysian citizenship was issued in direct response to concerns raised by His Majesty the Sultan of Pahang regarding sovereignty, security, and the integrity of citizenship.
That context is critical.
When a Ruler raises concern over citizenship, the proper response is accountability — not bureaucratic self-vindication.
NRD chose denial.
2. What the Sultan Flagged Is Not Hypothetical — It Was a Crime in Sabah
The Sultan of Pahang’s concern echoes what Sabah has already lived through.
A Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) has formally established that in Sabah:
* Citizenship and identity documents were issued to non-citizens
* These acts involved abuse of public office and authority
* Constitutional safeguards were knowingly bypassed
These are not administrative lapses.
They are acts that meet the threshold of criminal misconduct — including misfeasance in public office and abuse of power.
NRD’s response does not deny these facts.
It simply pretends they no longer matter.
Until individuals responsible for these abuses are investigated and prosecuted, NRD’s assurances carry no credibility, Royal warning or not.
3. Electoral Sovereignty Was Compromised — and Remains Unrepaired
The Sultan spoke of national sovereignty.
In Sabah, sovereignty was directly undermined when unlawfully created “citizens” were:
* Registered as voters
* Allowed to participate in elections
* Used to alter political outcomes
This is not a historical footnote.
It is an unresolved constitutional injury.
NRD cannot speak of “national interest” while ignoring the fact that Sabah’s electoral rolls were polluted by its own past actions.
Without a full, transparent audit of Sabah’s electoral register — tied to citizenship provenance — every democratic mandate remains morally compromised.
A state cannot claim electoral legitimacy while refusing to confront how its voters were manufactured.
4. Citizenship Abuse Was a Direct Violation of MA63
Sabah and Sarawak formed Malaysia under MA63 with clear constitutional safeguards:
* Control over immigration
* Protection of native status
* Preservation of political identity
Project IC and its continuation through NRD-enabled practices breached that federal compact.
Demographic engineering through citizenship was not authorised by MA63.
It was not consented to by Sabah.
It was not constitutionally neutral.
It reconfigured Sabah’s political reality unilaterally, in violation of the very terms on which Malaysia was formed.
No press statement — however polished — can cure that breach.
BoPiMaFo’s Position
BoPiMaFo states firmly:
1. The Sultan of Pahang’s concern highlights a real, unresolved national scandal, not a theoretical risk
2. NRD’s historical role in Sabah constitutes criminal abuse of power, not mere policy failure
3. Sabah’s electoral integrity remains compromised
4. MA63 has been materially violated through citizenship-driven demographic manipulation
Responding to a Royal warning with denial does not protect sovereignty.
It exposes how fragile it already is.
