Will Mahathir remember this time?

YOURSAY 'Obviously, Mahathir is afraid of his own shadows, fearing that the RCI would reveal his complicity in granting citizenship to illegal immigrants.'

Sabah RCI useless, says Mahathir

Swipenter: Former PM Dr Mahathir Mohamad is afraid of the RCI (royal commission of inquiry). His fear is showing through his false bravado.

He cannot deny that he had no knowledge of the plan to legalise and naturalise those hundreds of thousands of Indonesians and Filipinos because he was PM as well as home minister.

Mahathir, tell us how come not a single Vietnamese war refugee was able to escape the round-up when they landed on our shores?

It has nothing to do with the present government but has everything to do with you and your administration. You sold Sabah to foreigners in exchange for political power and this legacy of yours is being duplicated now in peninsula, especially in the state of Selangor.

Starr: Obviously, Mahathir is afraid of his own shadows, fearing that the RCI would reveal his complicity in granting citizenship to the illegal immigrants.

His justification of the Sabah population boom, on the basis of the border between southern Philippines and then-British North Borneo was not well recognised and people can go back and forth easily and stay for a long time, is nonsensical.

These illegal immigrants have been able to go back and forth because the federal government has failed to enforce adequate border security to deter these people from coming in.

During the confrontation period between Malaysia and Indonesia, why was the federal government able to patrol the borders securely to deter the enemies from crossing over, but not now? The answer is obvious.

Stories: The first thing the modern state did was to defend and control movements across borders. What Malaysia did was to turn Sabah into a failed state since borders are not controlled.

Broken Foot: Mahathir is vehemently protesting against the RCI as he very well knows that the RCI will conclude that he is the man behind 'Project IC'. There is no wriggling room left for him.

With Pakatan Rakyat on the threshold of forming the next federal government, he is looking at the real possibility of being charged for treason. This will be a slap on the face for a man who always blame others for his ineptitude and failures.

Hermit: Immigrants did come and they are coming in every day. When certain immigrants are being utilised as a ‘gold mine' by governmental agencies, surely more of these groups of immigrants would flood the country.

Mahathir exploited these groups of immigrants to change the political landscape of Sabah by giving them MyKads so that they would vote Umno.

Immigrants from Vietnam, whom the UN have recognised as refugees, did come to our country but they were not considered as gold mine. These Vietnamese immigrants were detained and fenced up, which discouraged new Vietnamese immigrants from landing on our shore.

Mahathir, your lies are now showing to the whole world. God is now showing only the tip of your iceberg of deceits, exploitation and carnage during your tyrannical rule of more than 22 years.

Kakagomo: Sabahans have now realised that they have been duped by Umno all along, making most of them among the poorest in Malaysia. And now their livelihood is being threatened by the presence of these new citizens. Only a change of government can save Sabahans.

Dinosaur: At times, I have to agree with Dr Mahathir Mohamad. These illegal migrants have been in Sabah since their great great grandfathers come and go from southern Philippines to Sabah.

Malaysia was lucky we got Sabah. What if Sabah were part of the Philippines? Sorry to say, all of you Sabahans are no better than them.

Let us be humane because these illegal migrants and Sabahans were once part of a bigger empire that existed during that time. I totally agree with Mahathir - they deserve to be citizens after considering their long presence in Sabah.

Survivor: Dinosaur, I beg to differ. It is not about these illegal immigrants whose ancestors moved back and forth across borders. It is about manipulating the voting pattern by offering citizenship in return for voting for BN.

The same is happening in Peninsular Malaysia where illegal immigrants are being offer citizenship in return for voting Umno-BN.

Bert: The stateless Indians, in the thousands, working and living in the rubber estates, have been in the peninsula even longer than the illegal migrants.

They have learnt to speak Bahasa Malaysia as well. Don't they qualify for Malaysian citizenship? Mahathir's logic does not apply here, is it?

Gggg: "I am accused of bringing these migrants in. I didn't have to, they all came themselves...," said Mahathir.
No one said you brought in the immigrants. Project IC was meant to help immigrants to obtain citizenship. This is what Sabahans are questioning.

Ferdtan: Mahathir is sending a dire message to PM Najib Razak. He wants him to be tough and not to pander to Pakatan, and some of the ruling Sabah, leaders.

Knowing Najib, his trip to Sabah would pass as a non-event. He would not, and cannot, act without the blessing of the grand old man.

Absalom: If you conducted a study on what went wrong with this country since the 1990s, whether in politics, judiciary, economics or issues like corruption, government business failures or cronies or gross wastage of public funds, you will find a common factor and you know who that is. It's amazing that he still has an audience to listen to him.

Buddyoo: "If the findings fall in favour of the government, the opposition will say it's manipulated and if it is against, the government will get it in the neck," Mahathir said.

What government? No, the RCI will find out whether you, not the government, was the one who caused these problems.

Opah: For once, I agree wholeheartedly with Mahathir. The Sabah RCI will be a useless public relations exercise.

Nothing will come of it except to deceive some Sabahans into believing "something is being done" to right Mahathir's wrongs.

Onyourtoes: Mahathir, please don't try to play tai-chi here. If the RCI finding is against the government, it is your neck that should be chopped, not the present government's neck.

Oh, they came by themselves, but who let them in and subsequently quickly naturalised them? Did you let the Vietnamese in? Didn't they come and many having to endure rape and hunger, but you had threatened to shoot them.

It is time you pay and I am glad you have live long enough to go through all these. - Malaysiakini