File photo shows Basar in the village last February.
MIRI (Aug 25): Former border scout Basar Paru, who defended Malaysia during the confrontation with Indonesia and communist insurgency, passed away this morning without having his wish to be a citizen fulfilled.
Basar’s daughter Orpah said the fact that her father remained stateless when he passed away deeply saddened the family.
Prior to his 92nd birthday in June this year, The Borneo Post met with Basar in Lawas where he had related his final wish was for the government to recognise him as a Malaysian citizen.
He had for decades attempted to apply for citizenship but until his final breath never received the good news he hoped for from the National Registration Department (JPN) and Home Ministry.
“We indeed feel very hurt and disappointed. My father, despite his enormous contribution to this nation, he was still regarded as not worthy at all until the end.
“There were times he wanted to give up because he was too tired of waiting for a reply, but we told him not to give up, and that was why he was still waiting until he died,” Orpah said when contacted today.
Basar was born in Kalimantan, Indonesia in 1930.
He came to Sarawak for the first time through the Ba Kelalan border as a teenager to visit his relatives in Long Beluyuk.
It was there that he would meet his bride and where he would ultimately settle with his family in the late 1950s – prior to the formation of Malaysia in 1963.
During an interview in 2020, Orpah recalled how her father left the family to become a volunteer to patrol the border during the confrontation.
“We lived in constant fear because my father was not around most of the time as he was a border scout stationed in Long Semadoh.
“Even though his children were still very young and needed his protection, my father had to leave us behind to fulfil his duties as a border scout to defend the border from the communists,” said Orpah.
Basar was first issued with a temporary resident card (MyKas) in 2003 and in 2013, he was issued with a Permanent Resident card (MyPR).
Six other former border scouts are also still waiting for their citizenship applications to be approved – Tabed Raru, Baranabas Palong, Joseph Pengiran, Kedimus Liling, Basar Arun, and Sia Lupang.