Dompok presses on for RCI on 'Project IC'

United Pasokmomogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation (Upko) president Bernard Dompok has advised people objecting to the setting up of a royal commission of inquiry (RCI) on illegal immigrants and forged citizenship documents in Sabah to regard the RCI as an opportunity to express their opinions.  

The plantation industries and commodities minister said the RCI was necessary to give the people some closure on the long-standing issue regarding illegal immigrants in Sabah.

“We live in a country that practises democracy. So, everybody is entitled to their own views.

“The point of having the RCI is to address issues that are of concern to the people in terms of social, political, economic and security matters. So, they (who objected) should take the opportunity to say their piece once the RCI is formed,” he told reporters after presenting aid to pepper farmers in Penampang, near Kota Kinabalu, today.

Dompok was asked by reporters to comment on the objection by certain quarters, namely the Sabah Islamic Welfare and Sermon Organisation of Malaysia (Pekida) and Sandakan-based Rantau Putra Association, on the setting-up of the RCI.  

Pekida Sabah, chaired by businessman Datu Mohd Akjan Datu Ali Muhammad, who came into the limelight in February after being ‘crowned’ the so-called 33rd sultan of Sulu, a province in southern Philippines, said investigations through the RCI would lead to hatred and disunity among the ethnic groups in the state, while Rantau Putra was of the view that the RCI was unconstitutional and unfair.
 
On Dec 13, Deputy Chief Minister Joseph Pairin Kitingan, who is also Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) president, said the parliamentary select committee on electoral reforms had agreed on the implementation of 10 proposals, one of which was the setting up of the RCI.   

Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Dr Maximus Ongkili, who is also PBS deputy president, chairs the committee.

- Bernama