Parti Bersatu Sabah's (PBS) accusation that a "BN party" was behind a citizenship-for-votes scheme had vindicated Warisan, said its president Shafie Apdal.
Speaking to reporters in Bongawan, Sabah today, Shafie (above) said his party has been blamed by their opponents over the same scheme for some time.
"People have been making allegations that it was Warisan all this while. Now that (PBS president) Maximus (Ongkili) has named a BN component party, we know the real culprit," said Shafie, according to Malay Mail.
During the Sabah state elections in 2020, Warisan was repeatedly accused by some Gabungan Rakyat Sabah leaders of helping unqualified individuals gain citizenship.
According to the latest census, 23.7 percent of Sabah's population are non-citizens.
In 2013, the Najib Abdul Razak administration established a royal commission of inquiry to investigate whether there was truth to claims that identity cards were being issued illegally.
Eventually, the commission surmised that this was the work of syndicates and corrupt government officials, but no political party was blamed.
During the PBS annual delegates assembly on Thursday, Ongkili told his party that a "BN party" was responsible for a citizenship-for-votes scheme.
Ongkili, who is a cabinet minister in charge of Sabah and Sarawak affairs, said efforts must be undertaken to remove unqualified individuals from the voter list.
Unfounded allegations?
Following this, there has been a flood of criticisms for Ongkili, coming from Sabah BN for making allegedly unfounded allegations.
For instance, former Sabah BN chief Salleh Said Keruak told a forum at the Sabah BN convention that Ongkili's allegations were slander.
"I am so angry reading the news, Max (Maximus) is crazy, he made a statement saying a party in BN has fake voters, and issues fake ICs… if he mentions BN we will lodge a police report because this is slandering.
"The RCI (Royal Commission of Inquiry) did not mention who did it. It is just reports, investigations... he should not have said that just because of politics," said Salleh, according to Borneo Post.
However, former prime minister Najib was of the opinion that "Project IC" - the codeword often used to describe the citizenship-for-vote scheme - did exist.
Responding to Warisan deputy president Darell Leiking's demand for Ongkili to name the BN party, Najib said the answer was clear.
"Has Leiking been living in a cave for the past 10 years? Let me answer him.
"The BN party that was involved in Project IC in Sabah - which happened in the 1990s - is Umno. The main culprit is (Dr) Mahathir (Mohamad).
"But, Mahathir said his deputy at the time - Anwar Ibrahim - did it.
"That is why I set up the Royal Commission in 2013 - to seek the truth," wrote Najib on his Facebook page.
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