Warisan: BN can solve Project IC problem if it really wants to

KOTA KINABALU: The current government could have rectified the Project IC problem a long time ago if it wanted to and taken credit for solving this perennial Sabah problem, said Parti Warisan Sabah.

Instead, BN leaders like United Pasok Momogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation (Upko) acting president Wilfred Madius Tangau, chose to use the issue for personal and political gains instead, said Warisan’s deputy president Darell Leiking.

Commenting on Tangau’s recent statement that Sabahans will never forget former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s role in Project IC, Leiking told FMT the people should also consider why, even after Mahathir resigned 15 years ago, the BN government had still not resolved the problem.

“Mahathir left his post in 2003. Now is 2018. How come the horrible Project IC was never resolved by Tangau’s Upko?

“What happened to the ‘Tarik Balik IC’ or even the RCI (Royal Commission of Inquiry) on illegal immigrants in Sabah?”

Leiking said Mahathir may have been the perpetrator or even the mastermind of the heinous project but Sabahans should not forget that Upko had benefited from it also when it threw its support behind Mahathir in 1994 and in all the elections after that.

He said the BN component party had consistently campaigned for BN, which means they had been urging the people of Sabah to continue supporting Mahathir and Project IC.

“In Sabah’s 25 parliamentary seats, the opposition only won the Penampang, Kota Kinabalu and Sandakan seats. The rest are represented by BN.

“With such influence in the highest lawmaking body in the federation, how come Project IC remains unresolved?”

Project IC is the name used to describe the allegation of systematic granting of citizenship to immigrants (whether legal or otherwise) by giving them identity cards or MyKad.

The RCI on illegal immigrants in Sabah in 2013 did not deny the existence of the project but the commission absolved the government of ever creating Project IC and instead blamed corrupt officials and syndicates for creating the problem.

Leiking said Sabahans are not so foolish that they can be easily manipulated on Sabah’s political historical facts.

“We all know that Upko, formerly Parti Demokratik Sabah (PDS), consists of leaders who defected from Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS), just two weeks after defeating BN in the 1994 elections.

“In fact, it is well-known that had Mahathir not given former Upko president Bernard Dompok the Ranau seat, after he lost his Moyog seat to Clarence Malakun Bongkos in 1999, his political career would have been finished by then.

“It must also be noted that Dompok lost Penampang in 1995 and it was Mahathir who saved him by making him a senator in Mahathir’s regime, thus also saving Upko,” he said.

Leiking lamented that leaders like Tangau forgot they had benefited from Project IC directly as they are the products of this crime.

“I believe Tangau became a Tuaran MP in 1999 under Mahathir’s premiership as well. So did Tangau, forgive Mahathir then?

“Tangau was campaigning in Tuaran, just as Dompok was in Ranau, during the 1999 general election all on the premise that Mahathir was the prime minister.

“So, it is a paradox of sorts for Tangau to suddenly realise that Mahathir is still not forgiven when his first entry into elected parliamentary representation was done under the auspices of Mahathir as prime minister.” -FMT