UNWARRANTED ….The uproar over PKR's proposal to grant Sabah illegal immigrants PR status is unwarranted, according to former senator Dr Chong Eng Leong.
By: CASEY LEE
FORMER senator-turned-activist author, Dr Chong Eng Leong, is convinced that a PKR-inspired solution to the massive presence of illegal immigrants is the way ahead for the state.
The PKR proposal will see those who have gained Malaysian citizenship by dubious means granted permanent residency (PR) status instead.
“Why do we want a RCI (Royal Commission of Inquiry) to look at the illegal immigrants. The illegal immigrants are already illegal. It has nothing to do with getting permanent residence,” he said.
Chong was responding to an uproar caused by PKR’s alleged promise of providing PR status to illegal immigrants in its ‘Buku Jingga’ (Orange Book).
‘Buku Jingga’, which was launched by PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail during the party’s state convention here on March 12 and 13, drew flak from Barisan Nasional (BN) leaders and former PKR vice-president Jeffrey Kitingan.
They said that by forming an RCI on the illegal immigrant issue in Sabah and subsequently granting PR status to the ‘new citizens’, PKR would be legalising ‘illegal immigrants’ in Sabah. Chong, however, disagrees.
Chong explained that offering PR status would invalidate those who were given MyKads (via Project IC) of voting rights since their nationality would have to be determined.
“Their names would then be expunged from the electoral rolls as they would no longer be Malaysian citizens. Giving them PR is not legitimising their status as citizens because their nationality has to be checked when they apply for PR. By asking them to apply for PR and studying whether it should be given, makes their ICs invalid and their names will be checked on the electoral rolls to be expunged,” he said, adding that it was a way out of a complex situation.
Falsified SDs
Chong made it clear that he was speaking in his capacity as the author of ‘Lest We Forget’, the book that relates what transpired and led to the ‘reverse takeover’ of the state by illegal immigrants who ‘voted’ out the duly elected state government in 1994 and 1999.
The RCI proposed in PKR’s manifesto-type book was meant to investigate Project IC and not the illegal immigrants in the state, said Chong, a practising consultative surgeon.
According to him, there is no need to set up an RCI on the immigrants because they are outright illegal and do not require a RCI to be evicted from the state.
Chong, who presented a paper on the issue during the recent PKR convention here, noted that details of the Project IC, also known as Project Mahathir, were revealed by an ISA detainee. The detainee was involved in the project in the 1980s.
The detainee, Hasnnar Ebrahim, had alleged that senior-most government officials participated in the ‘new citizenship’ scheme to overthrow the Christian-led opposition PBS government.
“Project IC in the 1980s was succinctly revealed by Hasnnar, detained under ISA for his role in the issuance of ICs based on falsified SD (statutory declaration). He (Hasnnar) apologised to the public for this.
“He said that there were meetings chaired by the late Megat Junid Megat Ayub (deputy home minister) attended by top guns from the home ministry, Ahmad Sarji Abdul Hamid (chief secretary), Alwi Jantan (Public Service Commission), Halum Harun (Immigration director-general), Sani Adnan (Sabah director of National Registration Department), three senior police officers from Bukit Aman and Hasnnar himself.
“The committee was to deliberate on a mechanism on how to issue Malaysian ICs to foreigners in Sabah. One of them had reservations on this but was brushed aside by Megat Junid who said that the idea came from prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad. That was why it was also known as Project Mahathir,” Chong said.
In his paper, Chong said that Project IC had benefited at least 600,000 foreigners in 2005 who were given Malaysian ICs through falsified SD by an Umno taskforce in 1991.
No Umno will
Chong said the purpose of the taskforce, headed by current Chief Minister Musa Aman as Director and Deputy Chief Minister Yahya Hussin as deputy director, was to seek out foreigners and issue them with Malaysian ICs and also to register them as Umno members and voters to be placed in 30 out of the 48 state constituencies.
An election petition in the Likas constituency, filed by Chong himself, alleged that there were phantom voters in the electoral rolls during the election.
Despite winning a landmark judgment for the petition, 17 other similar petitions with allegations of phantom voters in other state constituencies were struck off by election judges and none of the names proven to be non-citizens in the Likas petition were removed from the electoral roll.
After gaining local media attention, several federal and parliamentary committees were said to have been formed during former prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s administration and continued under current Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak.
However, no concrete action has been taken to resolve the issue which indicates that the BN government has no intention of finding a solutiont, Chong said.
“Home Minister Hishammuddin (Hussein) said there was no such thing as Project IC (so did his predecessors) and rejected the call for a RCI into Sabah’s immigration problem. Many individuals, NGOs and political parties, including some BN partners, have been asking for a RCI into this for more than 10 years but only Umno repeatedly refused. Why? Because that would open up the can of Umno worms in this Project IC scandal. Umno will never ever try to solve this,” Chong said.
He estimated that foreigners, illegal immigrants, and Project IC beneficiaries in Sabah had already outnumbered genuine Malaysians by 2 million to 1.6 million in 2005.
He said this vast number was a threat to the state’s sovereignty since citizens have been marginalised, especially in claiming native customary rights (NCR) and lands.
“What is the point of Sabah being wealthy if our sovereign land is overwhelmed with illegals?
“The foreigners have caused tremendous socio-economic effects in Sabah and have upset its demography and political scenario… perhaps this is exactly what the BN government wants.
“But the BN federal government must realise that losing the sovereignty of Sabah means the collapse of Malaysia and I believe that was not the intention of the founding fathers of an independent Sabah within Malaysia.”
“We broke our laws to grant them citizenship – the most prized commodity of any nation. Do you expect them to respect our laws?” he asked.
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