AG, PLEASE WALK THE TALK!

By : DATUK SERI WILFRED MOJILIP BUMBURING

THE STATEMENT by the Attorney General in giving the assurance by the government that action will be taken on the RCI report is yet another echo of the so many assurances by the federal government in the past on the illegal immigrant issue in Sabah.

The response by the government on my memorandum which I gave to the Ministry of home affairs for example is basically a denial response. Back in 2008 when the call for the government to take action on the issue, the government under new Prime Minister then, Datuk seri Najib Tun Rajak, set up an action program, steered by the special task force.

However the whole exercise was just a political gimmick as it just disappeared after a few months. The Attorney General has not explained why the National Registration Department and the Immigration Department refused or directed not to attend the hearing when called by the parliamentary Integrity Committee.

The refusal by the two key departments to attend the hearing posted major unanswered questions on the government attitude toward the illegal problem in Sabah and it was a blatant contempt of parliamentary democracy of the country.

"The state secretary of United State of America had to appear and defend the government policy and action before the congressional committee on the Benghazi attack which led to the death of some Americans diplomatic staff including the ambassador.

This shows the high level of accountability of the US government to their people. Mahathir had single-handedly took upon himself as the prime minister  of Malaysia, in secrecy, issued citizenships to illegal immigrants in the country, especially in Sabah without due accountability to parliament and the people of Sabah and without due respect for the affected people of Sabah and the Malaysian Agreement.

His government had never announced the immigration policy during his term. Different immigrant groups are treated differently. The government adopted the policy of “shoo or shoot” toward the Vietnamese refugees but indiscriminately giving out citizenship yo the illegal immigrants in Sabah.

US President  Barrack Obama had just announced the new immigration policy of his government and he announced it publicly in front of a crowd saying “the time has come to fix the system that has been badly broken so many times”.  He added  'This time, action must follow.

We can’t allow immigration reform to get bogged down in endless debate.' The announcement was a fulfilment of his recent campaign promise to the people of America. He also explained that the new policy was a result of a  'emerging broad base consensus of business leaders, labour leaders, faith leaders, law enforcements and members of the Democrat and Republican parties'.

The policy specified three immigration reforms, better enforcement of immigration laws, providing a path or process to citizenship and reforming the immigration system.

In Malaysia we need a RCI to response to the outcry from the people. If the government is indeed responsible then action should have been taken right from the beginning to protect the sovereignty of the country.

I repeat again that Mahathir had breached the sovereignty of the country and betrayed and committed treason to the people of Sabah and he must be made accountable for it.

Nobody should be immune from the law. How can he claims that the identity cards given to the illegal immigrant in Sabah is done according to due process of law when officers of the NRD testified that they were hoarded in house in Kuala Lumpur to issue ICs. The ex-president of Peru was made to account for what he has done during his presidency even after he retired and all knows where he is now.

The two-prong defence by PEKA advisor Datu Omar Ali Datu Bachtiyal on the admission of Tun Mahathir in the issuance of ICs to illegal immigrants in Sabah, abeit-in a clandestine way, miss my point or a mere indefensible justification.

There is no question of misinterpretation in my statement. The witnesses in the RCI hearing tell all. Firstly I wish to reiterate again that Mahathir had committed treason to the original citizen of Sabah by playing with the national security of the country by way of indiscriminate issuance of ICs to the illegal immigrants.

The worms are out of the can. You and other UMNO leaders are scrambling for justification. The denials can longer works. The modern world had never seen any country which indiscriminately gives away citizenship to illegal immigrants for hideous political agenda without any regard to the implication to the affected people.

Mahathir had to admit to this after failing to stop the formation of the RCI, to which Najib was forced to do due to tremendous pressure from the opposition. Few people will disagree that my quitting from BN had forced his hand in this matter. Mahathir tried to justify himself by saying that Tunku Abdul Rahman had done worst than him.

"We have to remember that the granting of the Chinese and Indian immigrants on Independence Day was the agreement among the races as a condition for gaining independence from the British colonial government. This is what is generally called 'the social contract'.

Mahathir give out citizenship to illegal immigrants well after merdeka, after which the constitution and laws in regard to immigration and citizenship are in place to adhere to when processing citizenship application.

In the case of Sabah those people came or invited to come without any document at all. The witnesses in the RCI hearing showed that names were even given to them, list them in the electoral roll and them given identity cards.

Datu Omar also cited that the Suluks and the Bajaus were already in Sabah before the Brirish came. It is true that on Independence Day the population of Sabah comprised of many races, the Kadazan, Dusuns, Muruts, Bajaus, Suluks, Dayaks, Brunei Malays, Iranun, Chinese and many others.

On the same principle in Peninsula Malaysia and Sarawak, those who are domiciled in Sabah on that day are granted citizenship. Tun Musthapa ancestors are from the Philipines but he was here in Sabah during independence and therefore he has the full right to citizenship of this state but not those from the Philipines coming after merdeka.

Is Datu Omar saying, for example that, since there were Dayaks in Sabah before independence therefore those Dayaks who come to Sabah after independence will be automatically given citizenship?

Datu Omar remark in regard to ancestral origin of the Dayaks and Kadazans in relation to immigrant issues does not hold water at all. We don’t consider ourselves as native, we are the native of this land and we have, among others have the full right to safeguard this land from unrightful iilegal comers.

The government of Malaysia today has the legal, political and moral obligation to make right what wrong had been done. So many empty promises had been given to solve the issue and now the people can understand why no action had been taken because it was a grand scheme of Mahathir for two decades of his premiership.

The present Prime Minister dare not take action on the issue for fear of offending Mahathir. We take the government for their words of promise, via the attorney general that action will be taken on the RCI findings but first the government must prove their words worth by cleaning the electoral roll from those illegal immigrants to prove that Malaysia is indeed a world class democracy.