Is ‘Sultan’ Akjan untouchable?

What happened to all the police reports against self-proclaimed 'Sulu Sultan' Mohd Akjan Ali?

KOTA KINABALU: First Mohd Akjan Ali Muhammad wanted to be the Sultan of Sulu. But that that failed, now he wants to be a power-broker in Sabah and Malaysian politics. What will he want next? That’s the question the Sabah DAP is asking.

“His Royal Highness the Sultan of Sulu should be deported to the Southern Philippines immediately. He has no place in Sabah,” said party secretary Dr Edwin Bosi sarcastically.

Bosi said that Akjan’s antics were making a mockery of the state and federal government authorities who were nevertheless quick to crackdown on its owns citizens over perceived criticism.

He said it gives the impression that Akjan is untouchable and that he is holding the Chief Minister Musa Aman and Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak to ransom.

“If that is the case, then the sovereignty of Malaysia is in the hands of a foreigner, the Sultan of Sulu,” Bosi said in a statement.

He said the party wants “immediate action” to be taken against Akjan for objecting to a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) that had been approved by a state Barisan Nasional government panel and also recommended by a parliamentary commission.

Akjan’s attack on Sabah BN political leaders over the issue has been taken as an affront by government and opposition leaders alike.

Akjan, a well known businessman, was speaking in his capacity as the influential Sabah chairman of the Malaysian Muslim Welfare Association (Pekida).

“Akjan is no stranger to the controversial “Project IC” issue whose existence he categorically denied,” said Bosi.

“He was incriminated in a paper written by Hj Jabar Khan Napi on June 10, 2007 entitled “Kehadiran Pendatang Asing di Negeri Sabah dan di Anugerahkan Kad Pengenalan Malaysia Setaraf Bumiputra” (The Issuance of Malaysian Identity Cards which is Equivalence to the Native Status to Foreigners in Sabah).

“Both Akjan and Jabar were arrested and jailed under the Internal Security Act (ISA) for the likely involvement in the issuance of Malaysian documents to illegal immigrants.

“In Jabar’s paper in Chapter 10 – “Agenda Dr Mahathir”, Akjan was accused of involving with the syndicate to issue documents to illegal immigrants in Kota Kinabalu.

Stop Akjan

“He was among seven people implicated in the syndicate covering Tawau and Sandakan,” said Bosi in justifying his call for the government to act on Akjan’s latest attempt to influence state and national issues.

Akjan provoked another backlash against the Umno-led state Barisan Nasional government when he called a press conference at a hotel here last week and objected to the calls for the setting up of a RCI on the extraordinary population explosion in Sabah and the issuance of citizenship to foreigners in exchange for votes.

His objection was unsurprising given that he was arrested in the mid 1990s together with several other individuals and jailed under the ISA for his alleged involvement in the issuance of Malaysian documents to illegal immigrants in the state.

Bosi, however, while decrying Akjan’s reinterpretation of the Federal Constitution on citizenship, pointed out that there are checks and balances in place to prevent exactly what has happened in the state due to negligence or outright fraud.

He said the provisions relating to citizenship in the Federal Constitution state that it is the duty of the minister to compile and maintain (a) a register of citizens by registration and (b) a register of citizens by naturalization and (c) a register of persons to whom certificates have been issued under Clause (1) of Article 30.

“We certainly like to see these registrars and see who have been given citizenship,” he said.

Bosi also said that the party wants to know how the authorities would deal with the implied threat by Akjan against Sabahans.

“By telling those who called for the RCI to take cue from the many cases of racial tension and unrest in other countries when certain ethnic groups try to deny the rights of the other ethnic groups, Akjan is playing with fire,” he said.

What happened to police reports?

Bosi reminded the Pekida Sabah chairman that Sabahans had been living in peace and harmony for many years.

“We live in mutual respect and tolerance, also accepting our differences of religion and culture.

“Akjan must be reminded that all the local BN component parties including MCA and the opposition parties (Pakatan Rakyat and SUPP) are together in asking and calling for the RCI (Royal Commission of Inquiry).

“If Akjan is a true blue Malaysian citizen, he should not be worried about the establishment of the RCI,” he said.

He continued that Akjan has no locus standi to question the calls for the setting up of the said RCI, since he has earlier declared himself as the 33rd Sultan of the Sulu Sultanate, in a ceremony at his residence in Kg Likas here in February this year.

He was arrested and remanded for seven days but was released unconditionally after all charges against him were subsequently dropped.

Bosi also demanded that both the federal and the state governments explain how a self-proclaimed ‘Sultan of Sulu’ on Malaysian soil could be allowed to helm Perkida.

He further reminded that the Sabah police chief had once asked the people of Sabah to make a police report against Akjan concerning his proclamation as Sultan of Sulu in order for the authority to “move” in against him.

“Even the National CID chief who is from Sabah did mention that this (proclamation as the Sultan of Sulu in Likas, Sabah, Malaysia) is a serious matter,” he noted.

He stressed that the people of Sabah deserve an explanation from both Chief Minister Musa, who is also the state security chairman, and Najib on the issue.

“What happened to the several police reports? Why is the government flexible on dual citizenship when it is clearly against the Federal Constitution?” he asked.