past fraud, new risks in malaysia

PENANG – Suspicions over the integrity of a Malaysian government program popularly known as “Project M” that fast-tracked citizenship and voting rights for immigrants in the eastern state of Sabah threaten to complicate upcoming general elections.

Witness testimony to a royal commission of inquiry into the program suggests that large-scale fraud took place in Sabah in the 1990s. The revelations have raised new questions about the accuracy of the country’s voter rolls, an issue opposition politicians and civil society activists have highlighted at street rallies calling for electoral reforms.

The inquiry, which was set up last August, has heard witnesses testify that government officials loyal to the ruling United Malays Nasional Organization (UMNO) engaged in undercover operations to topple the then ruling party in Sabah, the multi-ethnic Parti Bersatu Sabah (Sabah United Party), which at the time was in opposition at the federal level.

The party was apparently perceived by some UMNO loyalists to be “Christian-led” and the covert objective was to replace it with a state-level coalition that would be more “friendly to Islam” under the umbrella of the federal-level ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition.

The modus operandi was to fast-track citizenship rights to foreigners or issue them papers to allow them to vote in state elections in 1994. In the end, the Parti Bersatu Sabah won by a slim majority but collapsed after mass defections of its Sabah state assembly members soon after.

The royal inquiry was called after Prime Minister Najib Razak realized Project M and its associated influx of immigrants was one of the sore points in the pivotal swing state that could cost the ruling coalition voter support at the upcoming polls.

Some analysts believe the inquiry was established to stem a possible tide of defections after a couple of BN coalition politicians defected to the People’s Alliance opposition coalition led by Anwar Ibrahim.

Others believe that the inquiry was aimed at pulling the rug out from under the feet of the still influential former premier Mahathir Mohamad, who was prime minister of an UMNO-led government at the time the clandestine registration of immigrants was carried out.

The inquiry has been hampered by its limited terms of reference, which do not specifically grant the commission the mandate to identify the masterminds behind the alleged fraud.

Observers have also complained that key questions were not being addressed, including why foreigners had to pay such a small amount for temporary identification papers meant for Malaysians who had lost their identification cards that effectively allowed them to vote?

Moreover, the outcome of the inquiry is only likely to be known after the general election, which must be held by the end of June at the latest. That means any inquiry recommendations may not be issued in time to allow for a review of the national electoral rolls.

One operation that emerged from the inquiry involved Sabah state-level national registration department officers issuing 40,000-100,000 Malaysian identity cards to foreigners. Testimony implicated an aide of Mahathir, whose residence in Kuala Lumpur was used as a center to process the cards.

Another witness testified that in another Sabah-based operation some 200,000 birth certificates were issued to foreigners which later allowed them to apply for Malaysian identity cards.

Implicated officers were later detained without trial under the Internal Security Act for up to two years, a move observers believe was done to put a lid on the clandestine operations.

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Past fraud, new risks in Malaysia
By Anil Netto
Feb 1, 2013