Why Sabah's population rose
DAILY EXPRESS NEWS
Kuala Lumpur:
The Statistics Department's figures of Sabah's population do not reflect the actual population increase since shortcomings on the part of the authorities in the 1970s saw many of Sabah's people living in the rural areas going unrecorded.
Home Affairs Parliamentary Secretary, Datuk Paduka Haji Abdul Rahman Ibrahim, said Sabah's purported population increase by four fold between 1970 and 2000 as recorded by the Statistics Department can be explained by rechecking the figures with the National Registration Department (NRD).
"In historical terms, after Sabah's entry into Malaysia there were some weaknesses in the recording and documentation of Sabah's population since some of the people living in the interior cannot be reached by land and were not registered either for birth certificates or identity cards," he said.
Responding to Tuaran MP Datuk Wilfred Madius Tangau's question in Parliament on the extraordinary population boom based on the Statistics Department records, Abdul Rahman said the 1971 records kept by the NRD showed that the overall population was 716,626.
This was quite similar to the Statistics Department's 1970 figure of 653,264, which however, did not reflect the actual number of people in Sabah, he said.
"Because of the weaknesses and the call from the people in rural areas to get their rights to be registered as citizens, the Government formed the NRD mobile registration unit to help these people get their birth certificates and ICs," he said.
Based on NRD records there are about 2,011,602 people in Sabah having ICs and birth certificates in 2006 with 740,381 being late registrations and out of which 523,785 were those born before 1971.
If the number of late registrations is taken into account then the population of Sabah in 1971 was actually more than one million, he said.
"If Sabah's population in 1971 was more than one million, then the average population increase until 2006 is between 1.5 per cent and 2.5 per cent annually, which is in fact the same with other states in the peninsula," he said.
Abdul Rahman said that among the other factors for Sabah's population increase was the regional merger, which is provided for under Article 14 (1) (a) Section Two of the Second Schedule of the Federal Constitution.
Apart from that, mixed marriages between locals and foreigners in Sabah was also an important factor for the increase.
"For example, the number of children born in Sabah from marriages between Sabah women and permanent residents or foreigners or vice versa was 85,451," he said.
Under the law, he said these children are categorised as citizens.
He said the Ministry was aware of the illegal immigrant problem in Sabah and as an initial effort, had drawn and proposed an integrated action plan.
"I believe if the Internal Security Ministry is given the mandate (to implement the proposed action plan) the problem of illegal immigrants in Sabah can be resolved," he said.
Details of the integrated action plan were not disclosed.
Kuala Lumpur:
The Statistics Department's figures of Sabah's population do not reflect the actual population increase since shortcomings on the part of the authorities in the 1970s saw many of Sabah's people living in the rural areas going unrecorded.
Home Affairs Parliamentary Secretary, Datuk Paduka Haji Abdul Rahman Ibrahim, said Sabah's purported population increase by four fold between 1970 and 2000 as recorded by the Statistics Department can be explained by rechecking the figures with the National Registration Department (NRD).
"In historical terms, after Sabah's entry into Malaysia there were some weaknesses in the recording and documentation of Sabah's population since some of the people living in the interior cannot be reached by land and were not registered either for birth certificates or identity cards," he said.
Responding to Tuaran MP Datuk Wilfred Madius Tangau's question in Parliament on the extraordinary population boom based on the Statistics Department records, Abdul Rahman said the 1971 records kept by the NRD showed that the overall population was 716,626.
This was quite similar to the Statistics Department's 1970 figure of 653,264, which however, did not reflect the actual number of people in Sabah, he said.
"Because of the weaknesses and the call from the people in rural areas to get their rights to be registered as citizens, the Government formed the NRD mobile registration unit to help these people get their birth certificates and ICs," he said.
Based on NRD records there are about 2,011,602 people in Sabah having ICs and birth certificates in 2006 with 740,381 being late registrations and out of which 523,785 were those born before 1971.
If the number of late registrations is taken into account then the population of Sabah in 1971 was actually more than one million, he said.
"If Sabah's population in 1971 was more than one million, then the average population increase until 2006 is between 1.5 per cent and 2.5 per cent annually, which is in fact the same with other states in the peninsula," he said.
Abdul Rahman said that among the other factors for Sabah's population increase was the regional merger, which is provided for under Article 14 (1) (a) Section Two of the Second Schedule of the Federal Constitution.
Apart from that, mixed marriages between locals and foreigners in Sabah was also an important factor for the increase.
"For example, the number of children born in Sabah from marriages between Sabah women and permanent residents or foreigners or vice versa was 85,451," he said.
Under the law, he said these children are categorised as citizens.
He said the Ministry was aware of the illegal immigrant problem in Sabah and as an initial effort, had drawn and proposed an integrated action plan.
"I believe if the Internal Security Ministry is given the mandate (to implement the proposed action plan) the problem of illegal immigrants in Sabah can be resolved," he said.
Details of the integrated action plan were not disclosed.
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