It's clear that former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, judging from his continuing defensive comments in the media on the ongoing Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on Immigrants in Sabah and issues unrelated to it, suffers from an identity crisis and perhaps thinks that he's the law. That's putting it mildly.
If not for politicisation of the issue by Sabahans, and the opposition seizing the moral high ground, the federal government would have never agreed in a million years to hold the RCI.
Mahathir (right) will get nowhere in the emerging Malaysia by twisting and turning everything into a racial and religious issue. This is a game he played well before the age of the Internet and, as a result, went on to become prime minister.
The more he works himself up into a frenzy over race and religion, the more divided will be the Malay vote bank and the more united the minorities. No Malay can become prime minister without the support of the minorities.
Mahathir, the son and grandson of Malayalam-speaking Muslim immigrants from Kerala state in southwest India, apparently belabours under the delusion that it's "legal" to hand out citizenship on his whims and fancies to any Tom, Dick and Harry of a foreigner in far away Sabah - other people's country - in secret, obviously lest there be a political fallout.
If not for politicisation of the issue by Sabahans, and the opposition seizing the moral high ground, the federal government would have never agreed in a million years to hold the RCI.
Mahathir (right) will get nowhere in the emerging Malaysia by twisting and turning everything into a racial and religious issue. This is a game he played well before the age of the Internet and, as a result, went on to become prime minister. The more he works himself up into a frenzy over race and religion, the more divided will be the Malay vote bank and the more united the minorities. No Malay can become prime minister without the support of the minorities.
Mahathir, the son and grandson of Malayalam-speaking Muslim immigrants from Kerala state in southwest India, apparently belabours under the delusion that it's "legal" to hand out citizenship on his whims and fancies to any Tom, Dick and Harry of a foreigner in far away Sabah - other people's country - in secret, obviously lest there be a political fallout.
Convenient lapse of memory
He has been silent at the same time on the fate of the estimated 350,000 stateless ethnic Indians, his fellow countrymen, living in a legal twilight zone in peninsular Malaysia since the departure of the British in 1957.
The National Registration Department (NRD) director-general appears to have been denied the exercise of his prerogative and discretionary powers in resolving the issue. The British government has been denied the chance to re-affirm that in the absence of Malaysian citizenship, the stateless remained British subjects entitled to British citizenship.
Mahathir's comments on the RCI should be considered "unbecoming", if not "subjudice", for want of a better term.
Already, he can be cited at least for an act of disrespect to the RCI under its rules.
He did the same despicable thing during Sodomy I and Sodomy II. He appears to be secure in the knowledge that no one would dare touch him.
Dr M to wither under X-examination
Mahathir should turn up at the RCI, like former Sabah Chief Minister Harris Salleh and his bosom pal, and put his money where his mouth is.
His statements in the media on the RCI need to be recorded by it and cross-checked with numerous other testimonies which contradict his take.
Mahathir will wither if subject to intense cross-examination by the RCI and will inadvertently blurt out the who-dun-it truth, sneering and snarling, fangs bared, in an unguarded moment.
The truth will emerge in his incoherence and in his inimitable face "going this way and that way" on the witness stand.
Harris was all vintage performance in a continuedstate of denial as he cynically rubbished the idea of a "Projek IC Mahathir in Sabah" and virtually claimed that the federal government has the right, no doubt divine, to give out MyKads to any Tom, Dick and Harry in Sabah, "if they are useful to the state".
His favourite example is that of a Brazilian professional footballer who was given citizenship within 24 hours by the Japanese government.
Obviously, he equates the usefulness of illegal immigrants with the Brazilian footballer.
Dr M to wither under X-examination
Mahathir should turn up at the RCI, like former Sabah Chief Minister Harris Salleh and his bosom pal, and put his money where his mouth is.
His statements in the media on the RCI need to be recorded by it and cross-checked with numerous other testimonies which contradict his take.
Mahathir will wither if subject to intense cross-examination by the RCI and will inadvertently blurt out the who-dun-it truth, sneering and snarling, fangs bared, in an unguarded moment.
The truth will emerge in his incoherence and in his inimitable face "going this way and that way" on the witness stand.
Harris was all vintage performance in a continuedstate of denial as he cynically rubbished the idea of a "Projek IC Mahathir in Sabah" and virtually claimed that the federal government has the right, no doubt divine, to give out MyKads to any Tom, Dick and Harry in Sabah, "if they are useful to the state". His favourite example is that of a Brazilian professional footballer who was given citizenship within 24 hours by the Japanese government.
Obviously, he equates the usefulness of illegal immigrants with the Brazilian footballer.
Harris, an Indian (Hindu Malayalee)-Barunai, forgets in his pathetic performance that there are no secrets in Sabah, as the locals proudly claim.
Mahathir initially told the media in a curtain-raiser - the second bombshell - that he was against Prime Minister Mohd Najib Abdul Razak's decision to give the green light for the RCI.
He tried backdoor lobbying but to no avail. Najib reportedly wants to go for amnesty in Sabah, a move which will benefit many of his Bugis countrymen in the state. For this, he needs the RCI.
Mahathir had strenuously denied - the first bombshell - for many years, any wrongdoing on the issuance of MyKads in Sabah.
Truth hidden for three decades
At no time did he indicate that foreigners in Sabah had been granted citizenship during his premiership (1981-2003).
Mahathir initially told the media in a curtain-raiser - the second bombshell - that he was against Prime Minister Mohd Najib Abdul Razak's decision to give the green light for the RCI.
He tried backdoor lobbying but to no avail. Najib reportedly wants to go for amnesty in Sabah, a move which will benefit many of his Bugis countrymen in the state. For this, he needs the RCI.
Mahathir had strenuously denied - the first bombshell - for many years, any wrongdoing on the issuance of MyKads in Sabah.
Truth hidden for three decades
At no time did he indicate that foreigners in Sabah had been granted citizenship during his premiership (1981-2003).
He kept it under wraps because he obviously knew that he was party to an illegality under the law and the constitution.
Besides, the Sabahans would not hear of any such thing if it was in defiance of the constitution and their own state government which must be the initiating and recommending party on citizenship for foreigners in the state.
The RCI should take note of all these statements and subsequent statements.
When rebuffed on the RCI, Mahathir dropped the third bombshell that illegal immigrants who had been in Sabah for nearly 40 years and more had the right to citizenship since they spoke Malay "unlike the Chinese given citizenship".
This was a racist statement of the highest order if there was one. He did not mention amnesty.
Besides, the Sabahans would not hear of any such thing if it was in defiance of the constitution and their own state government which must be the initiating and recommending party on citizenship for foreigners in the state.
The RCI should take note of all these statements and subsequent statements.
When rebuffed on the RCI, Mahathir dropped the third bombshell that illegal immigrants who had been in Sabah for nearly 40 years and more had the right to citizenship since they spoke Malay "unlike the Chinese given citizenship".
This was a racist statement of the highest order if there was one. He did not mention amnesty.
He made vague references to the fact that the boat-dwelling Pala'u (Bajau Laut or Sea Gypsies) led an outcast nomadic life in the waters between Sabah, the Philippines and Indonesia. He was implying the Pala'u should be given citizenship.
Supporters left in the cold
Interestingly, the Pala'u in the waters of Sabah bounded by three seas is still stateless, according to United Sabah National Organisation (Usno) pro-tem vice-president Abdullah Sani.
Ironically, as Sani points out, only the Suluk and Bajau community leaders in Sabah, including the Pala'u, supported the idea of Malaysia.
The Chinese leaders were against it. The Orang Asal chiefs - Murutic and Dusunic groupings - wanted to enjoy a period of independence before considering the idea of Malaysia on which they wanted further details.
Mahathir, the Pala'u forgotten, now wants a RCI - the fifth bombshell - to be held on Tunku Abdul Rahman's issuance of one million citizenships under an "amnesty" to Chinese before independence.
Knowing Mahathir ,the Machiavellian, this is probably a figure he plucked out of thin air for playing to the gallery in a dramatic fashion just like his fairy tale comment on "Chinese not speaking Malay getting citizenship".
Constitutional law expert Abdul Aziz Bari (right), in comments reported in The Sun, thinks that Mahathir is trying to save his skin from treason charges and is even willing to shoot Umno in the foot, albeit the old one as it lies in the grave.
Padding the electoral rolls
In fact, there was no such amnesty in Peninsular Malaysia around the year 1957 as far as anyone can remember and there could not have been one.
Only a sovereign government can offer amnesty and that, too, for offences committed by large numbers of people against the state.
Assuming Mahathir is right on the Tunku offering citizenship under an amnesty programme, how does he explain his issuance of citizenship in Sabah to people who were not eligible and not entitled even under an amnesty programme?
It's wrong for the Tunku, in Mahathir's view, to offer amnesty but right in his case not to consider the same idea even for permanent residence.
Mahathir wanted to pad the electoral rolls and for that he needed instant citizens which could not be created by amnesty.
The citizenship status of people in Malaya, British subjects, stemmed from the Federation of Malaya Agreement dated Jan 21, 1948, "independence" at the stroke of midnight on Aug 31, 1957 when the British left the administration of Malaya in local hands, and the federal constitution.
Citizenship could not be based on any amnesty offer to a people who existed long before the state initially came into being as a result, among others, of the Anglo-Siamese Treaty of 1909 and the stoppage of the payment of the bunga mas and perak (golden and silver flowers) in tribute to Bangkok, British creation of the sultanships in their present form, and their establishment of the Conference of Rulers.
The history books maintain the fiction that Malaysia - and ignoring Sabah and Sarawak - is a continuation of the Malay Muslim Sultanate of Malacca, forgetting it was founded on Thai ‘territory' by Hindu runaway Javanese prince Parameswara from Palembang, Sumatra.
Tomorrow: Pre-Merdeka citizenship a non-issue
Ironically, as Sani points out, only the Suluk and Bajau community leaders in Sabah, including the Pala'u, supported the idea of Malaysia.
The Chinese leaders were against it. The Orang Asal chiefs - Murutic and Dusunic groupings - wanted to enjoy a period of independence before considering the idea of Malaysia on which they wanted further details.
Mahathir, the Pala'u forgotten, now wants a RCI - the fifth bombshell - to be held on Tunku Abdul Rahman's issuance of one million citizenships under an "amnesty" to Chinese before independence.
Knowing Mahathir ,the Machiavellian, this is probably a figure he plucked out of thin air for playing to the gallery in a dramatic fashion just like his fairy tale comment on "Chinese not speaking Malay getting citizenship".
Constitutional law expert Abdul Aziz Bari (right), in comments reported in The Sun, thinks that Mahathir is trying to save his skin from treason charges and is even willing to shoot Umno in the foot, albeit the old one as it lies in the grave.
Padding the electoral rolls
In fact, there was no such amnesty in Peninsular Malaysia around the year 1957 as far as anyone can remember and there could not have been one.
Only a sovereign government can offer amnesty and that, too, for offences committed by large numbers of people against the state.
Assuming Mahathir is right on the Tunku offering citizenship under an amnesty programme, how does he explain his issuance of citizenship in Sabah to people who were not eligible and not entitled even under an amnesty programme? It's wrong for the Tunku, in Mahathir's view, to offer amnesty but right in his case not to consider the same idea even for permanent residence.
Mahathir wanted to pad the electoral rolls and for that he needed instant citizens which could not be created by amnesty.
The citizenship status of people in Malaya, British subjects, stemmed from the Federation of Malaya Agreement dated Jan 21, 1948, "independence" at the stroke of midnight on Aug 31, 1957 when the British left the administration of Malaya in local hands, and the federal constitution.
Citizenship could not be based on any amnesty offer to a people who existed long before the state initially came into being as a result, among others, of the Anglo-Siamese Treaty of 1909 and the stoppage of the payment of the bunga mas and perak (golden and silver flowers) in tribute to Bangkok, British creation of the sultanships in their present form, and their establishment of the Conference of Rulers.
The history books maintain the fiction that Malaysia - and ignoring Sabah and Sarawak - is a continuation of the Malay Muslim Sultanate of Malacca, forgetting it was founded on Thai ‘territory' by Hindu runaway Javanese prince Parameswara from Palembang, Sumatra.
Tomorrow: Pre-Merdeka citizenship a non-issue
JOE FERNANDEZ is a freelance journalist, among others, who shuttles between points in the Golden Heart of Borneo formed by the Sabah west coast, Labuan, Brunei, and northern Sarawak.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.