Campaign to stop ‘mother of all threats’

SAPP embarks on a signature drive demanding a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the massive illegal immigrants problem in Sabah

KOTA KINABALU: All Malaysians regardless of whether they were born in Sabah should support a signature campaign demanding for a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on how illegal immigrants obtained citizenships en masse in the state.

The Sabah Progressive Peoples Party (SAPP), in making the call, said the signature campaign was to protect the sovereignty and future of the country.

The party’s Api-Api youth chief, Pang Thien Fook, said this was important as the issue had been going on for almost three decades without closure and had adversely affected the politics and socio-economic environment of Sabah in particular, and Malaysia as a whole.

“It is an undeniable fact that the continuous presence of a huge number of illegal immigrants from neighbouring countries like Philippines and Indonesia have became citizens through dubious means.

“The infamous ‘Project IC’ especially, has significantly eroded or usurped the rights of the bona fide citizens in many aspects, from politics to socio-economy.

“There is also constant danger of the sovereignty and security of this country being compromised at any time,” he said.

Pang stressed that Malaysians must wake up and stop the ruling government from constantly abusing and manipulating the electoral process to stay in power.

He said going by the Sabah precedent, the recent accusation by blogger Abdul Rahman Abdul Taib that Umno aimed to deploy the same modus operandi in Selangor to recapture the opposition Pakatan Rakyat ruled state is valid.

Pang claimed that ‘dubious citizens’ dubbed the ‘fixed deposit’ for Barisan Nasional (BN) in Sabah have migrated to Peninsular Malaysia. Target: 100,000 signatures

SAPP’s signature campaign is due to a recent statement by Home Affairs Minister Hishamuddin Tun Hussein, who denied there was a problem and as such a need to up a Royal commission of Inquiry on the matter.

The campaign which was launched last week is aiming to secure at least 100,000 signatures by the end of next month.

SAPP has already collected more than 11,000 signatures statewide, both online and on the ground via its mobile service booths in various districts.

To push the point home, Pang reminded Malaysians and Sabahans in particular, of a speech by anti-Nazi activist Pastor Martin Niemöller who said:

“When the Nazis came for the communists, I remained silent; I was not a communist. When they locked up the social democrats, I remained silent; I was not a social democrat.

“When they came for the trade unionists, I did not speak out; I was not a trade unionist. When they came for the Jews, I remained silent; I wasn’t a Jew. When they came for me, there was no one left to speak out.”

Said Pang: “Let us all do something to stop this “mother of all threats” before it’s too late.” - FMT