Putrajaya and the Sabah government should not play "hide and seek" following the release of a royal panel report on illegal immigrants in the state, a Sabah opposition politician said, demanding concrete action against illegal MyKad holders.
There is also a need to find solutions, especially on how these people are on the electoral roll, he said.
“What is the federal and Sabah governments’ stand on these illegal IC and MyKad holders and illegal voters?
"The governments should not play hide and seek on the RCI Report and take responsibility on action to be taken to solve the problems, created by or at least condoned by them in the first place," he said in a statement today.
Released last week after a six-month delay, the 368-page Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) report into illegal immigrants in Sabah found that syndicates and those with help from corrupt officials set up "Project IC" in the state for political agenda and money.
However, it was silent on those whose actions altered the state's demographics and religious balance.
The commission’s report has received flak from opposition leaders, including Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who said it was "meaningless verbiage".
Describing the report as a "misleading BN public relations exercise", Kitingan said what is needed now is to move forward and resolve the problems identifed.
Brushing aside authorities’ claims that it would be difficult to have a mass recall and reissuance of MyKad, Kitingan pointed out both the BN federal and Sabah governments are the ruling governments of the day and as such, there is no reason why a mechanism for a Sabah identity card cannot be created, especially since it was done before.
"There is also no reason why a non-Sabahan Resident Identification cannot be issued to accommodate foreigners without being allowed to be registered as voters or allowed to vote when high-tech identifications with biometric security features are currently issued for foreign workers," he said.
He said people should not be sidetracked over the existence of Project IC or whether it involved the federal goverment or Malaysia's long-serving prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
People should also not be distracted with "nonsensical statements" from senior federal minsters and "traitorous statements" from Sabah leaders whom Kitingan claimed seemed to have forgotten about their roots.
"We should also not be happy with empty and insincere promises from the Sabah government or the relevant authorties that they will ensure that there will be no illegal immigrants by 2020.
“Of course, there will be no illegal immigrants even by the end of the year, not necessary by 2020 if the federal agencies continue to issue MyKads to them, as is going on now, with an Indonesian ethnic association playing a major role in getting identity cards for their kin," he claimed.
Kitingan said it was pointless setting up a permanent secretariat or a working committee if both governments dilly-dally over decisions to tackle illegal immigrants.
"It is irresponsible to push the illegals problem to Sabahans and the permanent secretariat when the problems are created by the failures of the federal government, with the failure of the security forces in guarding the borders and the failure of the NRD (National Registration Department) in issuing ICs and MyKads without proper birth certificates and verification,” he added.
- TMI
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