Who WORRIED about what Anwar will tell Sabah RCI?

PKR leaders said they were not surprised to hear that former prime minister Mahathir Mohmad had tried to deflect blame for the notorious Project I.C. onto Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim, who is due to take the stand at the Sabah RCI on September 18.

"This is typical of Dr Mahathir A lot of insinuations that amount to nothing. I think he must be very worried about what Anwar has to say and is trying to preempt the fallout," PKR vice president Tian Chua told Malaysia Chronicle.

"But let's be patient and let Anwar clarify it himself when he testifies at the RCI next week."

Worried that Anwar will expose him?

Without naming Anwar, Mahathir said "a Pakatan Rakyat leader" who had served as his deputy prime minister had never questioned him about 'Project IC'.

Mahathir, who had a day ago testified before the Sabah Royal Commission of Inquiry on Illegal, appeared to be a bit more 'sensitive' to criticism than his usual self.

His wholesale denials of not even knowing that there was a Project I.C. "until recently" had drawn hoots of laughter and sarcasm around the country.

Be that as it may, and perhaps to regain some composure, Mahathir today urged his critics to question Anwar's silence over the matter instead.

“He was in the government, he knew the government's policy. If that was the government's policy, why didn’t he stop it?” Malaysiakini reported Mahathir as telling reporters on Thursday.

Asked whether he was referring to Anwar, Mahathir jokingly said "maybe".

Demographics and votes to cling to power

The Opposition chief has given his statement to RCI investigators who flew down to Kuala Lumpur to meet him last month.

He is due to attend the RCI hearing at the Kota Kinabalu High Court next Wednesday, the 18th.

In his statement to the RCI investigators, Anwar had named 3 people he believed were the culprits behind the scheme, which he has described as being "treasonous".

His lawyer, Latheefa Koya, declined to reveal the names of the 3 culprits identified by Anwar but it is believed the trio are Mahathir, former deputy Home Minister Megat Junid and Mahathir's private secretary Abdul Aziz Shamsudin.

Project I.C. or Project M (M for Mahathir) has been blamed by Sabahans for causing their abject economic and social conditions.

The project was alleged to have been a bid by top Umno leaders to change Sabah's demographics by giving out citizenship to Muslim illegal immigrants so that they would outnumber the mostly Christian locals.

Mahathir and his Umno party have also been accused of using Project I.C. to offer citizenship to undeserving foreigners in exchange for their agreeing to vote for the Umno-BN coalition during elections.

Full article: http://www.malaysia-chronicle.com/