COMMENT | Saifuddin deserves credit, too, for his swift action

COMMENT | One particular story published in Malaysiakini on Easter Sunday caught my attention.

Let me give a thumbs-up to writer Puteri Aisya Sufian for working on the plight of an elderly Lun Bawang woman, 65-year-old cancer patient Lina Samuel, of Lawas, Sarawak.

Allow me, in passing, to also encourage our journalists to probe and write more about the social problems and challenges faced by our less-fortunate folks, particularly those in the rural areas.

Lina’s plight is now well known and I’m glad that Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail has taken swift action to help resolve her case.

My key question in the whole story is: Does the National Registration Department (NRD) officer have the right to confiscate Lina’s MyKad? I’m aware that even the police have no right to keep a person’s identity card for whatever reason.

According to Lawyers for Liberty (LFL) director Zaid Malek, the NRD has no right...