“Main player” in Project IC claims he set it up, that he was recruited

A former bank manager told the Royal Commission of Inquiry into illegal immigrants in Sabah that he was the man who laid the foundation for United Sabah National Organisation (USNO) to triumph in the Borneo state.

The RCI's 200th witness, Mat Swadi Awi, said he met USNO founder Tun Mustapha Harun in London in the late 1980s.

Tun Mustapha allegedly told Mat Swadi about the planned Project IC and the plans for USNO to defeat Parti Bersatu Sabah in the general election.

"I was the main player in Project IC as I was given the main role and task of engineering the project. I set up the operation and drew up the strategy before presenting the plans to both Tun Mustapha and the then defence minister Tengku Ahmad Rithaudeen Ismail," Mat Swadi said.

He said between 1989 and 1990, he received about 20,000 copies of identity cards which had been issued to illegal immigrants in Sabah.

He submitted the names to the Election Commission to be entered into its database.

"I studied the various districts in Sabah where PBS had won to determine where it would be most beneficial to place these voters so that USNO would be able to win.

"For example, if in Papar PBS had won by 1,000 votes, then additional names would be added into the electoral rolls there to ensure USNO would win the next time round."

Mat Swadi, a former manager with Bank Pembangunan Malaysia, insisted that he did not do anything wrong as PBS was "anti-Malay and anti-peninsular Malaysia". He said as a Muslim, he wasn't doing anything wrong.

"However, I became disillusioned in early 1990 when top EC officers visited me and typed in an identity card number. Up to 50 names came up, linked to a single identity card number, I could not accept this kind of abuse of power."

Mat Swadi said he went to see Tun Mustapha and told him that he was going to abandon the project as the abuse of power was beyond what he could tolerate. He said he was going to leave and further his studies.

Asked why PBS still won the 1990 state elections, Mat Swadi said, how could USNO win when one identity card number threw up 50 names?

"My activities were widely known to the Special Branch, the National Registration Department, the Immigration Department and, of course, the EC. Otherwise, how else could so many copies of identity cards have been sent to me?"

He said besides the illegal immigrants, he also redirected the details of policemen, soldiers and teachers to be placed in certain districts around Sabah to assist USNO in the elections.

He said it wasn't just a matter of illegal immigrants being issued identity cards indiscriminately.

Mat Swadi said he had come forward to testify before the RCI panel, led by former Sabah and Sarawak Chief Justice Tan Sri Steve Shim Lip Kiong, because he had been subpoenaed and also to defend former Prime Minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Describing himself as a staunch supporter of 'Pak Lah', Mat Swadi said he was angered when former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad attempted to drag Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim into the Project IC mess, who then implicated Abdullah.

"I can't keep quiet when those who had nothing to do with Project IC are being dragged into it. I feel it is right to come forward and shed light on the entire issue, which was the brainchild of Dr Mahathir, as was told to me by Tun Mustapha."

Asked why he had been chosen by Tun Mustapha to lead and mastermind the project, Mat Swadi replied that he didn't know why either.