In 2010, the IC scanning system was in place to verify the genuineness of the identity card and is linked to the National Registration Department's (NRD) database. So the main culprit is the NRD. They are the ones who gave out and/or duplicate identity cards to foreigners. That is traitorous.
The sorry state of affair was long ago alerted by then parliamentary opposition leader Lim Kit Siang in a March 30, 1993 statement.
His statement: "It is clear that NRD director-general Kamaruddin Nordin knew nothing of the syndicate involving senior NRD officers supplying new hi-tech identity cards to foreigners, which was disclosed by Deputy Home Minister Megat Junid Megat Ayob, in Perak on Sunday (March 28).
"He had to refer back to Megat Junid who said last Sunday that he had been informed by police that three senior NRD officers had been questioned in connection with the illegal supply of the cards to foreigners.
"The senior NRD officers were suspected to conspiring with the syndicate as the particulars of the new cards had been recorded in the department's computers but the applications had not received official vetting.
"He said that such ‘upstream cheating' involving senior NRD officers had been suspected to have gone on for a year. Megat also said another syndicate was responsible for supplying Malaysian birth certificates to Muslim foreigners here.
"Megat's revelations as well as Kamaruddin's ignorance have presented with a double shock."
The proof was all there in 1993 and the BN government hushed up this fraud by detaining the NRD officers under the Internal Security Act (ISA). Dr Mahathir Mohamad must answer for all this as he was the PM then.
Lim Chong Leong: What or who instigated Abdul Latif to vote? If he is just interested in the IC and therefore residency and citizenship perks, what was his motivation to vote?
Surely, if he is an illegal citizen, he could not care less if it was BN or whoever else ran the country, so what or who instigated him to vote? Why was that not put to the witness during the Sabah royal commission of inquiry (RCI)?
Up2U: These revelations are very, very serious matters involving national security, and those involved in the rampant and blatant issuing of identity cards for citizenship must be charged with treason.
There is no need to wait until the RCI is completed. A special task force must be set up immediately to start investigations immediately. The only problem is who can be entrusted to head and be in this special task force.
RA 1: Since Abdul Latif's child was born in Malaysia, the child is a Malaysian citizen. As a result, both parents can claim permanent resident as they have lived here more than five years. Case closed.
DontPlayGod: RA 1, but there are also hundreds of thousands of non-Muslims who were born here and whose applications for citizenship are still under process for the last 50 years, and by the look of things, since Umno has been returned to power, these applications will still be under process until their last days on this planet.
Don't bank on MCA, MIC, or even Hindraf to day anything about it.
Disgusted: Can anyone blame Pakatan Rakyat for saying that there is massive fraud created by BN with the help of the Election Commission (EC) to cheat in elections since Mahathir's reign.
Umno-BN has cheated not only in the recent GE, but in previous elections as well.
How can anyone trust EC to be impartial and fair? Bersih has been justified all this while. Mahathir and PM Najib Razak should be charged for treason for selling citizenship to foreigners to keep themselves in power.
Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, too, as he did nothing about it during his tenure as PM.
Mick: There is no point in telling all these. The best procedure is to take up the case in the court to have the election declared null and void because of these anomalies.
Documents, photos, videos should be submitted in support of the claim so that the authorities will be stopped from denying the facts. If you have proper evidence, the judge cannot reject the case. An eminent lawyer should be engaged to pursue the issue.
OMG!!: Pakatan, this is your best chance to do something for the Sabahans to win them over. Do something on the mounting evidence of treacherous acts. Don't wait for the conclusion of the RCI.
N Ng: I guess we all know why the phrase "Malaysia Boleh" was coined. The question is whether the RCI will be allowed to make it own conclusions, and whether anyone will be made to stand trial for it.
Doc: Maybe Abdul Latif mixed up the years as he may have voted in both Pakistani and Malaysian elections. After all, both these nation's elections are marred by vote rigging and electoral fraud.
The Mask: Sports and Youth Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said there was "not a shred of evidence". What say you now?
-MK
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Who instigated illegal immigrants to vote?
About sabahdaily
Nearly nine out of 10 voters disagree with Putrajaya’s past moves in granting citizenship to Indonesians and Filipinos to live and vote in Sabah, according to the latest voter survey amid an ongoing royal investigation into the flood of foreigners there for the past 20 years
ReplyDeleteIndependent pollster Merdeka Center For Opinion Research, which surveyed 1,021 voters in Peninsular Malaysia at the end of January, reported today 86 per cent saying they disagreed with the government’s past action that has seen the foreign population boom in the Borneo state and earned it the moniker “Project IC”.
ReplyDeleteThe survey also found 60 per cent of voters saying they believed a large number of foreigners were still getting the blue-coloured identity cards marking their status as citizens
ReplyDeleteThe longstanding issue of illegal immigrants that has continued unchecked for decades has turned emotive among Sabah natives like the Kadazandusun and Murut communities, many of whom feel that the state has been robbed of its sovereignty through the massive influx of foreigners from neighbouring Philippines and Indonesia.
ReplyDeleteMore than a quarter of Sabah’s population are foreigners, totalling a staggering 889,000 out of the 3.2 million-strong population in Sabah, or about 28 per cent, based on a 2010 census.
ReplyDeleteThe large number of foreigners has also worried Sabah natives, who often blame them for the rise in crime and for stealing job opportunities.
ReplyDeleteRecognising the political significance of Sabah’s illegals problem, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had agreed to form a royal commission of inquiry (RCI) to look into it.
ReplyDeleteTun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Malaysia’s longest-serving prime minister who was in power from 1981 to 2003, has been accused of spearheading the so-called “Project IC”, in which citizenship was allegedly given to immigrants for their votes.
ReplyDeleteBut former Sabah Chief Minister Tan Sri Harris Salleh, who administered the state from 1976 to 1985, has denied at the RCI of the existence of “Project IC”.
ReplyDeleteFormer PM Dr Mahathir Mohamad today has named another person to be blamed amid the series of revelations at the ongoing royal commission of inquiry into Sabah's immigrant problem.
ReplyDeleteBlaming his arch rival Anwar Ibrahim for dishing out citizenship to immigrants in exchange for votes, Mahathir said Anwar would “sometimes do more (than is required)” in offering citizenship to foreigners.
ReplyDeleteMahathir also said he was prepared to testify in the inquiry, where several witnesses have recalled how foreigners were given instant Malaysian identity cards to alter Sabah's demographics as well as to engineer a BN victory during elections.
ReplyDeleteHe had earlier questioned those who were against immigrants being granted Malaysian citizenship, saying that by the same logic, the late Tunku should also be condemned for agreeing to grant citizenship to one million immigrants in then Malaya.
ReplyDeleteProminent blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin claimed that the citizenship-for-votes exercise was to prevent a “Vatican–Philippines” plot to turn Sabah into a Christian state in 1990s and eventually secede from Malaysia.
ReplyDeleteHence the Malay-Muslims from Peninsula Malaysia had to ‘do something’ to bring down the Christian government of Sabah and prevent ‘Christian’ Sabah from leaving Malaysia to join the ‘Christian’ Philippines.
ReplyDeleteAnd that would be to dilute the Christian population of Sabah by bringing in Muslims and giving them voting rights, meaning also identity cards,
ReplyDeleteHowever, this was not something that only those two could pull off...Hence Seri Perdana, the army, the police, the Immigration Department, the National Registration Department, the Elections Commission, etc., all had to play a part in keeping Sabah Muslim and to prevent Sabah from leaving Malaysia to become part of the Philippines,”
ReplyDeleteProject IC is the name used in Malaysia to describe the allegation of systematic granting of citizenship to immigrants (whether illegal or legal immigrants) by giving them identity documents known as IC (identity card), and subsequently, MyKad.
ReplyDeleteThe alleged practice is centered in the state of Sabah in East Malaysia. The term is used mainly by the media as well as other political commentators and the general public
ReplyDeletePenubuhan Suruhanjaya Siasatan Diraja (RCI) ini telah diumumkan oleh Perdana Menteri Malaysia Datuk Seri Mohd Najib bin Abdul Razak pada 1 Jun 2012.
ReplyDeleteRCI adalah hasil pandangan rakyat dan kerajaan Barisan Nasional. Ia membabitkan kewarganegaraan, keselamatan, sosio ekonomi, kesihatan dan politik.
ReplyDeleteA businesswoman told the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on illegal immigrants in Sabah that she found out her old identity card (IC) was used by another person when she went to open a bank account in 2007.
ReplyDeleteChia Oi Len, 59, from Papar, said she had changed her old IC, with serial number beginning H, to the IC embossed with a hibiscus flower picture, but it was never reported lost.
ReplyDelete"The Kota Kinabalu Maybank branch told me that they could not entertain my request to open a savings account because somebody else had used my old IC in Kuala Lumpur,"
ReplyDeleteChia said she then lodged a police report and then changed the IC to the MyKad IC, which she used to apply, and was approved to open an account at the bank, but was disallowed from applying for the (Auto-Teller Machine ) ATM card.
ReplyDeletePihak pembangkang seolah-olah tidak menghormati Suruhanjaya Siasatan Diraja Pendatang Asing di Sabah (RCI) apabila pantas menjatuhkan hukuman bersalah terhadap kerajaan Barisan Nasional (BN) dan bekas Perdana Menteri, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad berhubung pemberian kad pengenalan kepada pendatang asing di negeri itu.
ReplyDeleteDalam satu forum “mahkamah rakyat" anjuran sebuah pertubuhan bukan kerajaan (NGO) propembangkang malam ini, mereka turut menyalahkan isu kad pengenalan sebagai punca berlakunya insiden pencerobohan pengganas Sulu di Lahad Datu.
ReplyDeleteKetua Penyelaras Solidariti Anak Muda Malaysia (SAMM), Badrul Hisham Shaharin yang juga penganjur program itu turut menuduh para pengganas Sulu yang menceroboh Sabah mempunyai kad pengenalan dan ada di antaranya adalah bekas pegawai daerah di negeri itu.
ReplyDelete"Pemberian IC (kad pengenalan) merupakan punca sebenar kejadian Lahad Datu dan Jeneral Sultan Sulu yang datang menyerang tersebut ialah orang yang mempunyai kad pengenalan dan bekas pegawai daerah di Sabah," katanya pada forum tersebut yang turut dihadiri dua bekas tahanan Akta Keselamatan Dalam Negeri (ISA)
ReplyDeleteYang di-Pertuan Agong baru-baru ini telah perkenan melanjutkan masa RCI selama enam bulan lagi iaitu dari 21 Mac hingga 20 September bagi membolehkan suruhanjaya ini menyelesaikan siasatan dan penyediaan laporannya.
ReplyDeletePenubuhan suruhanjaya itu diumumkan oleh Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak pada 11 Ogos tahun lepas untuk menyelesaikan sepenuhnya masalah pendatang tanpa izin di Sabah.
ReplyDeleteThe government is to launch an initiative to resettle people living in several locations in eastern Sabah to maintain public safety, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak
ReplyDeleteThe move was decided on after realising that the vulnerability of several settlements to the easy entry of illegal immigrants and stateless persons was the primary cause of the Sulu terrorist intrusion in Lahad Datu and other parts of eastern Sabah
ReplyDeleteHe said that the initiative, under Part III of the Preservation of Public Security Regulations 2013, enabled the government to resettle any individual or a group of people, particularly any individual or a group of people who were illegal immigrants or stateless persons, in a safe and suitable area determined by the government.
ReplyDelete“It must be emphasised here that the decision to resettle any individual or a group of people is for the sake of maintaining public security.
ReplyDelete“In undertaking this resettlement, the government will take into consideration the safety and well-being of not only the people to be resettled but also the people already living in the designated area of resettlement,”
ReplyDeleteThe prime minister said that to preserve and protect the people’s fundamental rights and uphold the rule of law, the government would ensure that the resettlement did not prevent any aggrieved citizen in the designated area from challenging the government’s decision or exercising his or her right as a voter in any parliamentary or state election.
ReplyDelete“Realising that the resettlement would involve Malaysians, either as those to be resettled or those already living in the area of resettlement, the government will help those citizens whose rights under the Federal Constitution have been undermined by such resettlement,”
ReplyDeleteThe government would provide a safe place to live and ensure that adequate facilities were available for maintenance of public health, medical services and sanitation, besides opportunities for education and employment.
ReplyDeleteThe government would also cooperate with any domestic or foreign organisation to make available training and equipment, if necessary, to enable the resettled people to start life anew
ReplyDelete“The government realises that the decision on the resettlement has a major impact on the future of those involved. Migration to a new place involves getting adapted to a new environment,”
ReplyDeleteHe also said that the initiative would be beneficial to those already living in the area of resettlement because the government would implement programmes necessary for their well-being.
ReplyDeleteThe prime minister said the resettlement initiative might be extended to the rest of Sabah when it was felt that the situation was right to do so.
ReplyDelete“Although the resettlement initiative is now confined to eastern Sabah, it does not mean that western Sabah is being neglected. The need for safety is now more pressing in the east,”
ReplyDeleteIt is not possible for any country to ensure its electoral roll is 100 percent clean, the Election Commission (EC) says, for the list will be affected by daily occurrences of deaths as well as changes in addresses as people move about the country.
ReplyDelete“If I clean today, tomorrow someone dies and it is not clean again…NONE“How clean do you want it to be? What kind of detergent do we need to use?” EC chief Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof told a press conference in Putrajaya.
ReplyDeleteHe stressed that in spite of revelations to the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on immigrants in Sabah, the electoral roll for the state – and for the rest of the country – was as clean as these could be made.
ReplyDelete“Believe us, the electoral roll is clean. As far as the EC is concerned, we only accept citizens with blue MyKad as voters.
ReplyDelete“As for how they got the identity card, that’s (under the purview of) the National Registration Department (NRD),” he said, washing his hands clean of possible inaccuracies.
ReplyDeleteBefore the names are entered into the roll, the EC carries out a “vigorous check” with the NRD to ensure that those being registered are citizens and are alive.
ReplyDelete“If it is okay, only then we register,” Abdul Aziz explained.
The RCI hearing in Kota Kinabalu has to date featured damning testimonies on the awarding of citizenship to illegal immigrants and their subsequent registration as voters.
ReplyDeleteAsked why the Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) was not named as an election observer, Abdul Aziz said it was the EC’s prerogative to choose whoever it wanted, and he went on to say it was not because Suhakam had any ill feeling toward the commission.
BEKAS Pengerusi Suruhanjaya Pilihan Raya (SPR), Tan Sri Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman berpendapat bahawa pembaharuan yang ingin dijalankan ke atas suruhanjaya berkenaan lebih sesuai dilakukan melalui penubuhan Suruhanjaya Diraja dan bukannya Jawatankuasa Khas Parlimen.
ReplyDeleteAbdul Rashid berkata 'jalan pintas' seperti Jawatankausa Khas Parlimen tentang pembaharuan pilihan raya tidak boleh berkesan untuk membawa perubahan sebenar.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDelete"Jika kamu bawa cadangan seperti sebelum ini, ia tidak berkesan sepenuhnya. Penyelesaian yang mudah (jawatankuasa khas parlimen) tidak berkesan.
Sebarang pembaharuan mesti dilakukan dengan menyeluruh. Oleh itu, negara perlu menubuhkan suruhanjaya bebas yang mempunyai kuasa yang tinggi. Lebih baik jika ia adalah satu Suruhanjaya Diraja," kata Rashid ketika dihubungi Malaysiakini.
ReplyDeleteSelain itu beliau berkata lagi, suruhanjaya yang dicadangkan itu juga boleh membuat semakan terhadap SPR secara keseluruhan termasuk undang-undang pilihan raya dan memperbaiki SPR.
ReplyDeleteSuruhanjaya itu hendaklah terdiri daripada pakar undang-undang, pakar perlembagaan dan pakar-pakar demokrasi pilihan raya.
ReplyDelete"Tetapi jika ia adalah jawatankuasa yang terdiri sekali lagi daripada Ahli Parlimen, saya rasa tidak akan berjaya," katanya.
ReplyDeletePerdana Menteri Datuk Seri Najib Razak semalam mengumumkan bahawa kerajaan akan memindahkan kawal selia dan fungsi SPR kepada satu jawatankuasa khas yang diwakili anggota Parlimen daripada semua parti politik sama ada kerajaan atau pembangkang.
ReplyDeleteKatanya, ia bagi memperkukuhkan lagi kewibawaan dan kredibiliti suruhanjaya tersebut, yang pada waktu ini diletakkan bawah Jabatan Perdana Menteri.
ReplyDeleteDengan langkah ini, diharap kebebasan SPR tidak dipersoal lagi dan keyakinan rakyat terhadap SPR akan dapat diperkukuhkan," kata Najib.
ReplyDeleteDrastic changes in the Sabah population are endangering the high level of inter-ethnic tolerance and harmony in the state, the royal commission of inquiry (RCI) into illegal immigrants has heard.
ReplyDeleteM Knatayya, an associate professor specialising in ethnic relations at Universiti Malaysia Sabah, said this was because the Kadazandusun community felt “marginalised” after losing its position as the largest ethnic group in Sabah.
ReplyDeleteWhile a study Knatayya conducted in 2007 found that people in the state are very tolerant – with an “almost perfect score” on a scale to measure ethnic tolerance – things are likely deteriorating now.
ReplyDelete“Ethnic relations is not like a fixed deposit. When the social or political situation changes, (ethnic relations) can change. It depends on what information reaches the people’s minds, such as drastic changes in population.
ReplyDelete“The statistics (from 2007) only capture (sentiments at) one point of time but my observation shows this is going down.”
ReplyDeleteKnatayya said Sabahans in 2007 had scored 1.2 to 1.3 on the Borgados social distance scale, with 1 being ‘very tolerant’ and 5 being ‘not tolerant’, similar to Bosnia-Herzegovina prior to the 1991-95 war.
ReplyDeleteAsked how Bosnia descended into such a brutal state, he said: “It’s difficult to say but it could be because of political mobilisation by leaders. We call them ethnic entrepreneurs who have an interest upon ethnic (mobilisation).”
ReplyDeleteSabah has great potential to develop the biofuel sector using oil palm waste such as Empty Fruit Bunches (EFB) and Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME).
ReplyDeletethe production would require well-equipped infrastructure and advanced biofuel technologies; thus the researchers have proposed to the government to look into holistic infrastructures to encourage more investors.
ReplyDeleteThe technologies are available; what is needed for investors are an assurance of better infrastructure in terms of communications, logistics, facilities, power supply, and also financial support.
ReplyDeleteSetting up the plant could cost around RM10 million, and billions of ringgit in revenue is forecasted as a result of converting the oil palm waste into biofuel.
ReplyDeleteSabah telah membelanjakan RM1.971 bilion atau 45.1 peratus daripada peruntukan bagi tahun ini di bawah pelan pusingan kedua Rancangan Malaysia Ke-sepuluh (RMK-10)
ReplyDeleteMusa berharap pendekatan merakyatkan perkhidmatan awam dapat dilaksanakan bagi meningkatkan kecekapan sektor tersebut.
ReplyDeleteperkhidmatan awam perlu menilai sumbangan masing-masing kepada rakyat dengan pendekatan lebih mesra dan bersifat membantu.
ReplyDeleteKetua-ketua jabatan juga diminta untuk terus turun padang dan melihat dengan lebih dekat pelaksanaan projek dan pembangunan.
ReplyDeleteMusa juga meminta penjawat awam di negeri ini supaya kreatif dan berinovatif dengan fikiran dan minda yang lebih berdaya saing dan sentiasa mencari idea baru merentasi Strategi Lautan Biru.
ReplyDelete