RCI SOON, PAIRIN ASSURES

KOTA KINABALU: Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan has assured Sabahans that the Royal Commission of Inquiry on the presence of illegal immigrants and population boom in Sabah will be set up soon.

“The appointment of members of the panel had been announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak last month and I expect their appointment letters will be issued soon,” he said.

Pairin, who was asked to comment on doubts raised by certain quarters about the Government’s sincerity in setting up the Commission, said the appointment letters must first be handed over to the Yang di Pertuan Agong for his consent before they are given to the individuals concerned.

“I was made to understand that our Agong had been out of the country but he is back now and it should be anytime now,” he said.

“The Commission is a very important thing which cannot be delayed and the Government realizes that, therefore it will be set up,” Pairin stressed.

Last month, Najib announced that Tan Sri Datuk Amar Steve Shim Lip Liong, the former High Court Judge of Sabah and Sarawak had been appointed as the Chairman of the Royal Commission of Inquiry.

Najib also disclosed that former UMS Vice Chancellor Datuk Kamaruzaman Ampon, former Sabah State Attorney General Tan Sri Herman Luping, Malaysia Crime Prevention Foundation Deputy Chairman, former Kuala Lumpur Police chief Datuk Henry Chin Poy Wu and former State Secretary Datuk K Y Mustafa had been appointed Commissioners of the RCI.

The Chief Secretary to the Domestic Trade, Cooperative and Consumerism Ministry, Datuk Saripuddin Kassim was appointed as the RCI Secretary. (theborneopost)