Survey: Malaysians convinced 'Project IC' has not ended

The majority of Malaysians believe that the covert operation aimed at granting citizenship to foreigners is still going on.

According to Merdeka Centre, 60% of those surveyed believe that ‘Project IC’ has continued until today.

Only 26% disagreed that there is still such an operation, while the remaining 14 percent are unsure or refused to answer.

A total of 1,021 respondents participated in the survey between Jan 23 to Feb 6.

According to the racial breakdown, 61% of Malays and 71% of Chinese believe that 'Project IC' was ongoing, while 25% of Malays and 13% of Chinese believe otherwise.

Surprisingly, Indian respondents broke the trend with a whopping 76% who do not believe that foreigners were still being given blue identity cards, whereas only 19% believed that it was still occurring.

Of the total sample size, 59% were Malays, 32% were Chinese, and 9% were Indians.

When broken down along the lines of political affiliation, 45% of BN supporters believed that Project IC is ongoing, compared to the 37% who continue to hold disbelief to the claim.

Expectedly, 82% of Pakatan Rakyat supporters believed this was true, as compared to the 11% who believed otherwise.

The overwhelming majority - 86% of respondents - "strongly disagreed" or "somewhat disagreed" at the granting of citizenship for Indonesian and Philipines Muslims to live and vote in Sabah.

Vast majority against the move
Responding to a follow-up question on whether the respondents agreed with the granting of citizenship for Indonesian and Filipino Muslims so that they can live and vote in Sabah, an overwhelming 86% disagreed, while 10% agreed.

According to the racial breakdown, 83% of Malays and 88% of Chinese were opposed to such a move, whereas only 12% of Malays and 9% Chinese agreed.

However, the Indian respondents here were consistent with the general trend and in fact, topped the rest with an overwhelming 95% who disagreed to this move, while a mere 1% agreed on it.

This was also reflected through a bipartisanship, as 81% of BN supporters and 91% of Pakatan supporters were opposed to it, while only 13% of BN supporters and 7% of Pakatan supporters were in favour.

According to testimonies at the royal commission of inquiry on the issue of immigrants in Sabah, an operation took place in the state sometime in the 1980s and 1990s where Muslim foreigners had been granted citizenship.

The move was done in a bid to alter the state's demographic to topple the then Parti Bersatu Sabah-led state government, thus paving the way for Sabah Umno's rise to power.