I saw a sackful of blue ICs, says Jeffrey

Former ISA detainee Jeffrey Kitingan told the Sabah RCI panel that the legalised illegals in Sabah had made their way into the electoral rolls.

KOTA KINABALU: Bingkor assemblyman Jeffrey Kitingan told the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on illegal immigrants in Sabah that a National Registration Department (NRD) officer had shown him a list of some 60,000 foreigners who obtained Malaysian identity cards (ICs) in the 1990s.

Kitingan, a former detainee under the now defunct Internal Security Act (ISA), said he brought the matter up with his former political party, Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS), and a police report was lodged by the party’s then secretary-general Radin Malleh.

“But no action has been taken since then,” he said.

Kitingan said at the time he was presented with the list, he had lost his IC and went to the NRD to get a replacement.

“I was brought to a room by one officer who showed me the list and told me he felt sad that such a scenario was happening in Sabah and that the people on the list, who would also be subsequently included in the electoral roll, was just a small number, but many more were to come.”

He was yesterday testifying before the five-man inquiry panel led by former chief judge of Sabah and Sarawak Steve Shim Lip Kiong.

He told the Panel that his testimony was based on his experience as the former Institute of Development Studies (IDS) Sabah Chief between 1986 and 1991.

During this time he had also headed the first Transient Population Study in 1989-1990.

Kitingan also claimed that he had a personal encounter with an National Registration Department (NRD) officer in 1990 regarding the much talked about “Project IC” that was going through the department.

He also said that his testimony was based on personal conversations with fellow ISA detainees, and his own research on the books written by the late Mutalib MD, and “Lest We Forget” written by Dr Chong Eng Leong.

Kitingan further told the inquiry that he had an encounter with a man known to him as ‘Haji’ some time ago who showed him a sack of blue ICs claimed to have been issued during the Project IC that was rumoured to have been a project by the government.

“The issuance of those ICs would lead to problems to Sabah and in fact, Sabah is already at stake and the most recent example is the Lahad Datu intrusion,” he said.

He claimed that many of the intruders killed during Ops Daulat or Operation Sovereignty in March were buried here because they possessed Malaysian ICs.

Kitingan also said the problem of ICs issued through dubious means could be rectified by enforcing laws, changing the existing documentation systems, and eradicating corruption.

He added that those responsible for issuing Malaysian ICs to foreigners should be punished.

“If not, this problem will never be solved and it will be repeated because those responsible in the first place are not punished,” he said.

The inquiry continues today.

Bernama