PAS: Police 'MyKad scam' explanation far-fetched

The police explanation that the foreigners at a Bangi resort were attending an entrepreneurship course is not believable and would certainly spark more questions, says PAS Youth.

“I hope the police will not be naive, people will question, don’t assume that the people don’t know,” said PAS Youth’s democracy restoration and mobilisation bureau deputy chairperson Mohd Adram Musa.

Adram was responding to Sepang OCPD Imran Abdul Rahman's dimissal of the party’s claim that some 240 foreigners were ferried to the resort by a syndicate to provide them with citizenship in exchange for votes in the next general election.

According to a Sinar Harian report today, Imran said: “The information we received showed that all the foreigners at Desa Pinggiran Putra were there to attend an entrepreneurship course.”

The resort is located within Kampung Sungai Merab situated between Bangi and Dengkil. Kampung Desa Pinggiran Putra and Kampung Bukit Dugang are two minor villages adjacent to the resort.

However, Adram commended the police for having taken the initiative to probe the matter.

“I would like to thank the police for its investigation and also for confirming that the people in the resort on that day really were foreigners.”

Local business for foreigners?

He added that the police should have conducted its investigation more thoroughly as it was a matter of national security.

“How can they (foreigners) come all the way up from Johor just for a one-day course and why were the resort gates locked? All the journalists were there, they saw what happened.

“Why are foreigners even given an entrepreneurship course? Are they going to open a business here?” he queried.

PAS had earlier this year made police reports over similar cases, one in March at Salak Tinggi, Sepang which the party accuses the National Registration Department (NRD) of covert operations outside of office hours.

Another was in August at Paya Jaras, Subang which the party alleged through a raid of two houses, found the owner distributing MyKads to foreigners.

The most recent was when party supporters attempted to corner some 240 foreigners in a resort in Bangi said to be preparing to be given citizenship.

However, the NRD has denied any involvement in arbitrarily granting citizenship to foreigners.

PAS will expose syndicate

Asked how PAS will proceed over police inaction, Adram said his party representatives will file a motion for the matter to be debated in Parliament.

“Those in the government have asked its agencies to remain silent but if we bring this up in Parliament, then they must answer.”

He added the Islamic party will exhaust all avenues to expose the alleged syndicate, including raising it with the parliamentary select committee (PSC) for electoral reform.

“But we aren’t putting much faith in the PSC,” he added.

Adram related that it was an uphill task to expose the citizenship-for-votes programme as an organised syndicate is behind it.

“The police are the ones who should be alert and look out for them,” he said.

PAS has in recent months claimed that there is a concerted effort to give citizenship to foreigners to ensure votes for the ruling coalition in the next general election, similar to the infamousProject IC in Sabah during the 1990s.