KOTA KINABALU: The State
Reform Party (Star) has challenged local parties in Sabah to leave the Barisan
Nasional (BN) in the wake of former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad’s
widely-reported blog posting on Wed this week that “illegal immigrants who have
stayed long in Sabah are entitled to citizenship especially when they can speak
Bahasa Malaysia”.
He also called for the
removal of illegal immigrants holding MyKads meant for citizens by operation of
law from the electoral rolls.
Police
urged to charge Mahathir with treason
Thirdly, Daniel urged the
Police to interview Mahathir and charge him in Court over his blog posting
“which is tantamount to an admission of sedition and treason”. He’s not in
favour of the Federal Government recommending to the King that Mahathir be
given any Royal Pardon by the backdoor.
Fourthly, he urged the
formation of an Interim Federal Government composed of all parties across the
political divide to draw up a long-delayed Federal Constitution for Malaysia.
He pledged to set up a Constitution for Malaysia Movement (CoMaMo) shortly to
embark on a signature campaign.
He claimed that Malaysia was
supposed to get a Constitution in 1963 but instead the Malayan Constitution has
been allowed to masquerade as the Malaysian Constitution “because the
Federation of Malaya is masquerading as the Federation of Malaysia.”
BN
parties in Sabah in morally untenable position
“BN parties in Sabah are in
a morally untenable position after Mahathir’s statement which was made to
pre-empt the imminent Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) in Sabah,” said Star
deputy chairman Daniel John Jambun in a press statement after an emergency
meeting here of Borneo’s Plight in Malaysia (BoPi MaFo), an NGO pending
registration in the United Kingdom to strategize with Hindraf Makkal Sakthi on
a class action suit.
“Mahathir’s blog posting
proves that he was involved in Projek IC Mahathir to give out MyKads meant for
citizens by operation of law to illegal immigrants in Sabah.”
Daniel challenged BN parties
in Sabah to make their stand on Mahathir’s blog posting one way or other
especially in view of the imminent RCI on illegal immigrants.
Mahathir
wants to urge illegals to vote for BN
Mahathir also wants to give
comfort to the illegal immigrants and urge them to vote for BN after Anwar
Ibrahim’s recent statement on the issue, he added. “Anwar warned illegal
immigrants to stay out from the voting process if they don’t want to be
deported when Pakatan Rakyat forms the Federal Government in Putrajaya.”
The Star deputy chairman
stressed local parties in BN Sabah cannot “have their cake and eat it too”.
They need to either uphold
the Federal Constitution or admit that they have been going along since 1981
with Mahathir’s Law of the Jungle, he added.
The Federal Constitution,
pointed out Daniel, is crystal clear on the eligibility for citizenship in
Malaysia.
“In the case of Sabah,
illegal immigrants are being provided with local birth certificates to claim
MyKads meant for citizens by operation of law,” alleged Daniel. “We only have
to look at the cases of Pakistani carpet dealer Salman Majid and Indian
restaurant keeper Majid Kani to realise that these are the tip of the iceberg.”
Mahathir
admits involvement in Projek IC Mahathir
The Projek IC Mahathir,
continued Daniel, gave out local birth certificates to illegal immigrants based
on them making out false Statutory Declarations claiming that the applicants
were born in Sabah.
“These twice-born people
subsequently obtained MyKads meant for citizens by operation of law,” he said.
“Majid Kani admitted in Court that he was born in Tamil Nadu, India and not in
Papar, Sabah. Salman Majid said that he was not in Sabah for the first 23 years
of his life and that he holds documents (false) showing that he was born in
Sabah.”
Anyone,
he said, can Google these cases.
The mystery, according to
him, was how Salman Majid and Majid Kani obtained their first MyKad without
having to produce the personal documents of their parents.
“Malaysians have to produce
their parents’ personal documents when they apply for their MyKad for the first
time,” stressed Daniel. “Everyone including a 12 year old kid knows this.”
Sabah,
Sarawak have rights, powers on citizenship
Pointing out the law as it
applies to Sabah, as in Sarawak, Daniel explained that the Federal Government
cannot give out citizenships to foreigners in the state without the
recommendation of the state government as the initiating party on a
case-by-case basis.
According to him, this is provided
for by the five constitutional documents and/or conventions which formed the
basis for Sabah and Sarawak to be in Malaysia.
If eligible foreigners in
Sabah have been naturalized by the Federal Government without the prior
recommendation of the state government as the initiating party, said Daniel,
“they would have to apply for permanent residence to be considered Sabahans.”
“Here, we are talking about
foreigners who have entered the state with valid travel papers, stayed at least
10 years or more within 12 years and have gone through the legal procedures
including police clearance by the Special Branch and by the police in their
home countries,” said Daniel. “Mahathir is talking about illegal immigrants
circumventing the Federal Constitution with Putrajaya and the state governments
in Sabah and Sarawak looking the other way.”
Foreigners
not eligible for operation of law, registration
Foreigners, stressed Daniel,
are not eligible for citizenship by operation of law or registration but only
by naturalization.
Illegal immigrants, he
further stressed, are not entitled to anything no matter how long they have
stayed in the country and no matter how well they speak Bahasa Malaysia. He
urged that such illegal immigrants and their children be deported by the
backdoor, if not by the front door.
“If they came in by the
backdoor, they should go back by the backdoor since there’s no record of their
having legally left their home countries,” said Daniel.
On illegal immigrants who
came in by the front door and became illegal immigrants after over-staying and
either have expired or valid papers, he urged that they be urged to return by
the front door if their home countries will not declare them as stateless
people, and by the back door if they have since lost their citizenship rights
back home.
“Such people should take
their children along too and not leave them behind to wander in the streets in
Sabah,” said Daniel. “We are the poorest state in Malaysia today after being
conned into the Federation by the British and the Malayans and cannot afford to
look after them.”
General
Amnesty best way forward for illegals in Sabah
Asked whether there was any
hope for the illegal immigrants in Sabah on humanitarian grounds, Daniel
softened a little and conceded that a general amnesty could be offered to those
people who surrender their Malaysian personal documents obtained by
misrepresentation and/or fraud, pay a fine of at least RM 300 each as in 1965
in Peninsular Malaysia, remove their names from the electoral rolls, return to
their home countries either by the front or backdoor and re-enter legally if
they had jobs in Sabah and wished to resume from where they left.
The Star deputy chairman
urged the Federal Government to offer the general amnesty either before the
imminent RCI convenes or completes its work.
“It would be better if the
general amnesty is offered before the 13th General Election since many of these
illegal immigrants are on the electoral rolls, he claimed. “Many of them are
even in the state assembly, Parliament and in Government including Sabah
Foundation and the Land Office and holding positions in state and Federal
GLCs.”
Going forward, Daniel vowed
to compile Mahathir’s blog posting on urging citizenship for illegal immigrants
and the related reactions in the media to present to the RCI as proof of
Mahathir’s complicity in Projek IC Mahathir and his guilt acknowledged in the
Court of Public Opinion.
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