By : MURIB MORPI
KOTA KINABALU: Former Chief
Minister, Tan Sri Harris Salleh, yesterday denied that there was ever a 'Project
IC', a scheme allegedly created to provide Malaysian citizenship to immigrants
in Sabah in return for their votes for the government in Sabah.
Harris, who appeared as a
witness in front of the Royal Commission of Inquiry on Immigrants in Sabah
(RCI), testified that no such project ever existed as claimed by certain
quarters.
“I never heard about project
IC, I only read it in the newspapers sometimes, some people made accusations in
blogs but I never read them because why should I involve my self in all this
false stories.
“I don’t want to be involved
in all this, they never have proof, they just talk about it, political talk,
money talk,” he testified during the second day of the five-day proceeding.
Harris, the sixth chief
minister of Sabah from 1976 to 1985, was asked by RCI Chairman, Tan Sri Amar
Steve Shim Lip Kiong, if he has any comments on the allegation in regards to
the “Project IC”.
“Even if there were
anything, the ICs were probably given in a hurry, because they were giving it
in thousands and thousands. All those concerned, they were asked to speed up
(the process).
“As far as I know,
officially or unofficially, project IC does not exist. I can say this
honestly,” he said.
Conducting officer, Manoj
Kurup, had asked Harris to clarify whether he had made a quote in a book '007:
Lelaki Malaysia Terakhir' by Mutalib MD.
Harris declined to give a
direct answer, saying that all the illegal activities attributed to him in the
book were lies.
“I never did anything
illegal. So I don’t want to have to answer that, because what is written in the
book are all illegal, not true,” he said.
Harris also denied
allegations that he was involved, at least in instructing that identification
cards are to be issued to immigrants, saying he did not have the authority to
give such instruction even as the Chief Minister then.
According to him, the
authority to issue permanent residence status and citizenship lies solely with
the Federal Government and the State Government has no prerogative at all on
the matter.
“We only assisted, not the
federal government, but the individuals to fill the form, we do not have the
power (to give approval).
“I believe in the Federal
Constitution it says that if the federal government thinks that so and so is
eligible, even if the State rejected (it), the federal government can still
grant entry to Sabah, if it thinks that it is necessary in the interest of the
nation,
“I’m not sure about the
legal aspect, if this is correct or not, but I was informed like that. I was
told once in a meeting in Kuala Lumpur, they said, you the State don’t talk too
much, we have the power under the Constitution,” he said.
Asked by the Commission if
he knows whether the information given to him was correct, he said: “No,
unfortunately I’m not a lawyer but I was told so”.
To a separate question from
Commissioner Tan Sri Herman J Luping, Harris informed that the State Government
(had) never categorized in any policy that an immigrant must be a Muslim to be
recognized as refugee in Sabah.
He said there were concerns
however, that if the refugees were not properly resettled, it may cause problems
in the development of Sabah. He added there were also interest in the refugees
from the Philippines following a boom in the construction sector at the time of
his tenure.
“Most importantly, the
federal government (had) acknowledged and accepted these refugees to stay in
Malaysia, and we were told that there was also a UN convention to accept
refugees at the time,” he said, adding that the policy on refugees has remained
the same until today since it was introduced by the then Prime Minister Tunku Abdul
Rahman Putra Al Haj.
On how many immigrants and
refugees were issued citizenship during his tenure, Harris said, he had no idea
as the federal government never reported the matter to the State.
However, in a written
statement he submitted to the Commission, Harris had mentioned that there were
an estimated of around 150,000 refugees from the Southern Philippines in Sabah
at the peak of their migration into the State in 1973.
As to the allegation that
immigrants in Sabah seemed to be getting Blue IC and citizenship at a rate
faster than the locals, he said that question should be posed to the Federal
agencies concerned and not to the State as the matter was under the Federal’s
purview.
Another two witnesses,
Statistics Department Director, Norezan Wahid and Deputy Director of
Citizenship Division, National Registration Department, Nik Norashikin Nik
Mansur, were called to testify after Harris.
Norezan in his testimony
informed there were 3.2 million people in Sabah based on the population census
held in 2010. Out of this figure, he said, about 889,000 were non-citizens.
Norashikin, meanwhile, said
66,682 immigrants were issued citizenship between 1963 and Oct last year, of
which the majority or about half were young applicants who declared Malaysia as
their country of birth in their application forms.
For those who were born
outside Malaysia, successful applicants from China represented the biggest
number at over 13,000, Indonesia at second place with over 7,000, and followed
by Hong Kong and the Philippines at third and fourth. (BP)
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