Rashid registered dubious voters, says ex-Mafrel chief

Abd Malek Hussin, the man quoted by a leaked US Embassy cable as claiming a former Election Commission (EC) chief had issued fake Malaysian identity cards to foreigners in Sabah, today clarified that the latter did not issue the forged documents.

Malek (right), a former Malaysians for Free and Fair Elections (Mafrel) chief, claimed Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman did indeed admit to being involved in the controversial 'Projek IC' operation in the 1990s, but only to register individuals with dubious ICs as voters.

"The cable on Wikileaks misquoted me. How can he issue ICs? That is the role of the NRD.

"He was talking about foreigners with ICs that he registered," Malek claimed when contacted by Malaysiakini.

Wikileaks recently posted a leaked confidential US Embassy cable, which claimed that Malek had told American officials that Rashid had admitted to issuing 60,000 fake ICs to foreign workers in Sabah in the 1990s.

The cable quoted Malek as claiming that Rashid had also admitted that Umno was behind the "shadowy" campaign, where foreign workers were granted instant citizenship and voting rights to boost support for the party's bid to wrest political control of the East Malaysian state.

The New Straits Timestoday quoted Rashid's denial of the claims carried in the cable, saying he had "nothing to do at all" with issuing ICs.

In the article, Rashid (left)also denied telling Malek anything of the sort, stressing that ICs do not fall under the purview of the commission but rather the National Registration Department.

"What the EC did was only to register citizens with ICs as voters," Rashid was quoted as saying by the daily.

Malek agreed that it was not possible for Rashid do so, as the commission's role is clear in that they are in charge of registering voters, redelination of electoral boundaries and the running of elections.

However, the former Mafrel chief noted that the cable under-reported the number of foreigners allegedly registered by Rashid as voters on Sabah's electoral rolls, claiming that it should have been closer to 80,000 people.

IC issue in Sabah 'complicated'

Malek also claimed that Rashid had cautioned Mafrel against launching an independent probe into such allegations at that the time.

"At that time, he said the problems in Sabah were complicated. He said if Mafrel were to go, we would see some strange things.

"I can't fully recall, but I believe we talked about places like Banggi and Silam and he said the situation there was terrible because we would be faced with heavy issues."

Malek claimed that the fake IC situation in Sabah is dire, based on information provided by local NGOs and political parties, particularly one-time PBS stalwart Dr Chong Eng Leong - considered among the most vocal of activists against the much maligned 'Projek IC'.

He repeated the countless calls for a Royal Commission of Inquiry to be formed to look into the decades-old issue of illegal immigrants turned citizens, stressing that this is a vital step towards a long-term solution.

"We must have a Royal Commission of Inquiry. We cannot remain in a state of denial. This issue has long been exposed in the media, and even Suhakam have had an inquiry on it.

"The situation has become too terrible. We may not be able to fix it, possibly because the BN at the federal level has set Sabah as a fixed deposit.

"But if they can carry out their 6P registration programme for foreign workers, I don't see why they cannot do the same on for an issue that has a direct impact not only on Sabah, but the whole country," Malek said.