Stop making excuses: Jeffrey

Kota Kinabalu: Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) Vice President Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan urged the Federal Government and leaders to stop making excuses on the illegal immigrant problem and instead start taking action to solve it.

"I can see that what is being done is just another form of procrastination, by making excuses in order not to take action on the illegal immigrants," he said in a statement, Monday.

He said there was a proposal to set up a Royal Commission of Inquiry and later for a Parliamentary Select Committee, and now there is a proposal to study the problem.

"This is ridiculous and totally unacceptable because the MPs should by now know that piles and piles of data are available on the illegals. There was a complete study by IDS, the Federal Special Task Force and the State Government.

"On top of that, there are facts collected by various agencies such as Suhakam, Cash, universities and political parties, including PBS. Also, various individuals have also done their own data compilation and research including myself," he said.

"If the MPs are sincere they should have supported the proposal to set up a Royal Commission in order to start the ball rolling irrespective of who made the proposal," he said.

Jeffrey said Umno leaders, by rejecting the proposal, had done a great historical disservice to the nation, especially to Sabah.

"By the BN's inconsistent attitude towards the problem, we can sense that they are not sincere, or, they are made to kowtow to someone who does not want the problem to be solved," he charged.

He said even PBS, which was once very vocal on the issue, was now saying that it doesn't matter if it is a Select Committee or a Royal Commission, which, he added, shows very clearly that they are not committed at all.

"The frightening reality we are facing is the fact that there really was a Project IC, in which many Umno leaders were involved, including some in Sabah," he said, adding that if every leader was serious about solving the problem it would have been resolved 20 or 30 years ago.

"I suspect that the many statements we are hearing now is just a clever charade to appease us, and soon the whole thing will be conveniently forgotten, and left to haunt us another day and to destroy our own future," he said.

Daily Express
Sabah
27/05/08