ROYAL COMMISSION OF INQUIRY ON ILLEGALS IN SABAH

Oleh : SELVARAJAH SOMIAH

IT IS great to hear that our Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak has finally agreed to set up a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) to investigate problems related to illegal immigrants in Sabah. Credit must be given to Chief Minister Musa Aman for getting all the UMNO Divisional Heads in Sabah and the state liaison committee’s endorsement to declare their support for the RCI.

In fact, Musa Aman was facing strong objections from some elements within UMNO Sabah who were not in favour of the RCI but he nevertheless managed to pull it through.

Besides, the call to set up a Royal Commission of Inquiry to look into claims that foreigners obtained Malaysian citizenship illegally became louder only after Musa Aman managed to get the endorsement from all the UMNO Divisional Heads, in fact wannabe Chief Minister Shafie Apdal was never in favour.

But of course, now after Najib’s announcement he is singing a different tune saying “we don’t want foreigners to come to Sabah without documents because at the end of the day, it would create social problems like what is happening here in Semporna – the piracy case and other incidents, which we surely don’t want“.

Make me laugh this Shafie, it took him 4 months to come out with this statement, maybe he was too bogged down with his Zahida Rafik actress mistress alleged sex scandal.

Sabah’s legalised immigrant population is now in excess of 1.2 million and reports of ‘free MyKads’ being dished out overt and covertly in Sandakan, Tawau, Lahad Datu and Semporna are worrying everyone here in Sabah, the fear of ‘reverse takeover’ of the state by the Filipino immigrants in view of Manila’s claim on Sabah is not unfounded, it just seems to be getting worse.

Here are some suggestions to Najib for this Royal Commission of Inquiry:

AMNESTY

Najib’s Government should offer a general amnesty before the RCI begins to all those who illegally and fraudulently obtained Malaysian personal documents in Sabah and registered with the Election Commission and are willing to come forward and remove their names from the electoral rolls and surrender their documents in return for Special Passes — valid for six months at a time and renewable indefinitely for a maximum of 18 months during which time they must return to their home countries and re-enter, if they wish, but legally after a blacklisting period of five years.

Those who can’t return for any reason should be on Special Passes for Life, their children should only be entitled to temporary residence permits for life, their grandchildren should only be enititled to permanent residence for life, their great grandchildren should be eligible to apply for naturalisation in Peninsular Malaysia.

The general amnesty should be extended to those who issued such documents and voluntarily come forward. Those who issued such documents should voluntarily surrender their citizenship status in return for permanent residence status for life. Their 'crime' should affect the status of their children and grandchildren as the case may be.

A fine of RM 500 should be imposed on foreigners and RM 5, 000 on Malaysians and the money should go to the Sabah state government.

The precedent for the general amnesty, party, should be a similar offer in Peninsular Malaysia in 1965. A fine of RM 300 each was imposed.

INTERNATIONAL SCRUTINY

International observers and the United Nations should be invited to the RCI

TIME LIMIT

The work of the RCI should only be finished when it is finished. No time limit should be imposed on the RCI to finish its work but in any case, it should not take more than three years.

The RCI should hold at least 150 whole day long meetings.

Once the RCI finishes its work, it should complete and submit its final report within two years and its first report within six months.

All those who made public statements for and against the illegals should be subpoened.

SUBPOENA

All those held under the ISA in connection with the illegals should be subpoened. This includes “Sultan of Sulu” Akjan and Hassnar Ebrahim.

Harris Salleh & Mahathir Mohammad should not be allowed to distract, disrupt the RCI & mislead with their red herring statements.

Harris’ Yayasan Islam Sabah should be subpoened.

Harris should be asked to explain his statement in Court on Salman Majid and other statements.

Karpal Singh, who defended Salman Majid, should be subpoened for his statement on citizenship with reference to his Client.

Salman Majid should be subpoened.

Mahathir and Anwar Ibrahim should be asked to explain Projek IC or Projek M.

Parti Bersatu Sabah, Pairin and Raden Malleh should be asked to explain a study they conducted on the illegals & subsequently detailed in Parliament.

Bernard Dompok, who headed a Cabinet Committee on IC, should be subpoened.

Upko and Wilfred Bumburing should be supoened for a Memorandum they submitted on the illegals to the Home Ministry. Home Minister Hishammudin should be asked to explain his response to the Memorandum.

The PSC headed by Maximus Ongkili should be subpoened.

Suhakam should be subpoened.

Tan Sri Simon Sipaun should be subpoened on his work with Suhakam and his statement that life in Sabah was better before Malaysia.

Lawyer P. J. Perira should be subpoened on his Clients Majid Kani & Akjan aka “Sultan of Sulu”.

Majid Kani should be subpoened.

The Indian Muslim Chamber of Commerce should be subpoened.

Yong Teck Lee, Dr Chong Eng Leong & Election Commission should be subpoened on the Likas election petition.

Dr Chong should explain his book, “Lest We Forget”.

Writer M. D. Mutalib should be subpoened for his books on the illegals and his public statements on 'twice borns' with reference ti late registration of birth.

The American Pakistani or Indian Sajid who did a PhD study on the illegals should be subpoened.

DOCUMENTATION

RCI should first accept documents & documentation & sift through documentation. This includes all statements in the media including the visual media. The police should provide copies of all police reports on illegals.

The AG’s Chambers should provide documentation on all cases brought to Court & settled on illegals.

CROSS EXAMINATION

Cross-examination should be allowed. This is the best way to establish the truth.

CERTIFICATE

A certificate of appreciation should be given to those who are not wrong doers and volunteer to testify before the RCI.

WITNESS

Witness protection should be provided.

PERJURY

The RCI should take serious note of any perjury

MAIN WORK

The main work of the RCI should be to focus on late registration birth certificates obtained by Statutory Declaration, the “Malay” category in the Sabah statistics on demography, the number of people which the Philippines & Indonesian & other governments refused to take back on the grounds of statelessness, & the number of stateless people & temporary residents in Sabah, & the NRD, Immigration Dept, police, Court & EC procedures to deal with illegals & foreigners & political interference.

CHECK LIST

All late registration birth certificates should be withdrawn if they can’t pass a check list and the holders of the related Statutory Declaration charged with perjury.

This includes the “Malay” category.

The names of those whose birth certificates are withdrawn should be deleted from the electoral rolls.

WRONG DOERS

Wrong doers should be charged.