Written by
Joe Fernandez, Malaysia Chronicle
The painful truth is slowly emerging at the ongoing Royal
Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on the extraordinary population increase in
Sabah since it became a Nation in Malaysia in 1963. There’s little doubt
that former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad is the biggest culprit of
the lot in a MyKad scam and should be held for High Treason and punished
with the fullest might of the Law.
Mahathir should be held accountable since so many of his people have been implicated. It’s unlikely that they would have acted in this vile, despicable manner without his directives, oversight and supervision.
Shocking revelations from ex-Sabah National Registration Department (NRD) sources including an ex-director confirm that the electoral rolls were packed with illegal immigrants under Ops Durian Buruk to ensure that Umno won in the state elections.
The state of affairs is even more rotten than was imagined.
Putrajaya NRD released thousands with fraudulent MyKads from detention
It
appears that many illegal immigrants were issued with MyKads just for
the purpose of voting and nothing else. The MyKads, in a truth being
stranger than fiction scenario, carried the names of other voters who
were on the electoral rolls and generally didn’t turn up to vote. This
explains the oft-reported stories in the local media of voters turning
up to vote, only to be told that they “had already voted”.
The names of former Deputy Home Minister Megat Junid, Abdul Aziz Shamsuddin the political secretary to then Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, Sabah NRD Chief Abdul Rauf Sani and his successor Ramli Kamarudin, former Sabah Election Commissioner Director Wan Ahmad, and former Sabah Chief Minister Osu Sukam have all featured prominently in the RCI hearings.
Ex-Prisons Department (PD) officials, when summoned before the RCI, are likely to spill even more beans.
An ex-PD official estimates that his Department held 10,000 illegal immigrants between 1985 and 1994 for “fraudulently obtaining MyKads by furnishing false information to the authorities”. NRD Putrajaya, in all these cases, allegedly advised the Immigration Department to drop charges against the detainees on the grounds that “they were Malaysians”.
No illegal immigrant or other foreigners were detained by the PD after 1994 for obtaining MyKads fraudulently. That is the year the PBS Government, holding a razor-thin majority of two in the state assembly; fell on the back of massive defections from the party engineered by Mahathir.
The official, who hopes to be called before the RCI, confided that the PD’s investigations revealed a different story: the detainees were all born overseas but furnished the NRD with false Statutory Declarations (SD) stating that they were born in Sabah. They were then issued MyKads for voting purposes. No birth certificates or citizenship papers – as citizens by registration -- were issued to these MyKad holders.
The stories of Majid Kani and Salman Majid
Lawyer
J. P. Perira once defended Chennai-born Indian restaurant keeper Majid
Kani – Google the story – who was facing a deportation order for
claiming to be born in Papar, Sabah to obtain a MyKad.
Majid was hauled to Court by the authorities after it was discovered that he voted for the opposition in protest against being blackmailed over his status by all and sundry. The authorities dropped their attempts to deport Majid after Perira reportedly wrote to the Prime Minister and the Home Minister on the case.
Another lawyer in Sabah claims that he was approached in recent days by the head of an Indian association to help secure declarations from the High Court that 65 Indian nationals with the Bunga Raya IC should be recognised as Malaysian citizens and given their MyKads. All were born In India but had claimed in their SDs that they were born in Sabah.
Lawyer Karpal Singh once defended Pakistani carper seller Salman Majid – Google the story – against deportation. Salman had the same story as Majid Kani. Salman was born in Pakistan but claimed in a SD to have been born in Ranau, Sabah. Salam, who claimed that he was milked by authorities in Malaysia, was released from detention after former Sabah Chief Minister Harris Salleh turned up in Court on his behalf and declared that “Salam had always been a loyal BN supporter and voter”.
Under the Federal Constitution, foreigners are only eligible to apply for naturalization to be citizens; their children born in Malaysia will have to apply to be registered as citizens while the third generation, born in Malaysia, is automatically citizens by operation of law. Except for the last category, the other two will be issued citizenship papers.
Federal Government not above the law or Sabah Government
Those
born overseas can still be considered as registered citizens or
citizens by operation of law provided they are the offspring of
naturalized and registered/citizens by operation of law respectively
that had their births registered at the nearest High Commission or
Embassy, Malaysian, within three months.
So what Harris virtually implied as a witness at the RCI, of the Federal Government being above the law, is not true. The Federal Government has no power to issue MyKads to any Tom, Dick and Harry in Sabah. Also, contrary to Harris’s extraordinary claim, it’s not the work of the state government to fill up forms for illegal immigrants. Thirdly, the Federal Government has no right to issue permanent residence or citizenships to foreigners in Sabah or Sarawak without the recommendation of these state governments as the initiating party.
Based on what little has been revealed so far at the RCI, there’s no reason for the 13th General Election to go ahead in Sabah without the electoral rolls being made squeaky clean.
Najib's revenge
It
would not be surprising to learn that Prime Minister Najib Razak had
deliberately chosen this late juncture for the RCI to strike back at
Mahathir for going about in an underhand manner to remove him from
office.
Ops Durian Buruk or Projek IC Mahathir may just be the tip of the proverbial iceberg.
There are others, more Indonesians than Filipinos, who are holding MyKads that they are not eligible to hold under the Constitution.
Blogger M.D. Mutalib and anti-illegal immigrant activist Dr Chong Eng Leong – author of Lest We Forget – Issues of Sovereignty in Sabah – have amassed volumes of material on the illegal immigrant phenomenon in Sabah. It’s said that they are on the RCI witness list.
Three other key witnesses are Parti Bersatu Sabah secretary-general Radin Malleh, former Upko Deputy President Wilfred Mojilip Bumburing and Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) Batu Sapi division chief Hassnar Ebrahim who was once held under the draconian Internal Security Act (ISA) for spilling the beans on illegal immigrants on the electoral rolls.
The likely stories of all three witnesses can be Googled.
The public are awaiting their testimony at the RCI with bated breaths.
Mahathir should be held accountable since so many of his people have been implicated. It’s unlikely that they would have acted in this vile, despicable manner without his directives, oversight and supervision.
Shocking revelations from ex-Sabah National Registration Department (NRD) sources including an ex-director confirm that the electoral rolls were packed with illegal immigrants under Ops Durian Buruk to ensure that Umno won in the state elections.
The state of affairs is even more rotten than was imagined.
Putrajaya NRD released thousands with fraudulent MyKads from detention
It
appears that many illegal immigrants were issued with MyKads just for
the purpose of voting and nothing else. The MyKads, in a truth being
stranger than fiction scenario, carried the names of other voters who
were on the electoral rolls and generally didn’t turn up to vote. This
explains the oft-reported stories in the local media of voters turning
up to vote, only to be told that they “had already voted”.The names of former Deputy Home Minister Megat Junid, Abdul Aziz Shamsuddin the political secretary to then Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, Sabah NRD Chief Abdul Rauf Sani and his successor Ramli Kamarudin, former Sabah Election Commissioner Director Wan Ahmad, and former Sabah Chief Minister Osu Sukam have all featured prominently in the RCI hearings.
Ex-Prisons Department (PD) officials, when summoned before the RCI, are likely to spill even more beans.
An ex-PD official estimates that his Department held 10,000 illegal immigrants between 1985 and 1994 for “fraudulently obtaining MyKads by furnishing false information to the authorities”. NRD Putrajaya, in all these cases, allegedly advised the Immigration Department to drop charges against the detainees on the grounds that “they were Malaysians”.
No illegal immigrant or other foreigners were detained by the PD after 1994 for obtaining MyKads fraudulently. That is the year the PBS Government, holding a razor-thin majority of two in the state assembly; fell on the back of massive defections from the party engineered by Mahathir.
The official, who hopes to be called before the RCI, confided that the PD’s investigations revealed a different story: the detainees were all born overseas but furnished the NRD with false Statutory Declarations (SD) stating that they were born in Sabah. They were then issued MyKads for voting purposes. No birth certificates or citizenship papers – as citizens by registration -- were issued to these MyKad holders.
The stories of Majid Kani and Salman Majid
Lawyer
J. P. Perira once defended Chennai-born Indian restaurant keeper Majid
Kani – Google the story – who was facing a deportation order for
claiming to be born in Papar, Sabah to obtain a MyKad.Majid was hauled to Court by the authorities after it was discovered that he voted for the opposition in protest against being blackmailed over his status by all and sundry. The authorities dropped their attempts to deport Majid after Perira reportedly wrote to the Prime Minister and the Home Minister on the case.
Another lawyer in Sabah claims that he was approached in recent days by the head of an Indian association to help secure declarations from the High Court that 65 Indian nationals with the Bunga Raya IC should be recognised as Malaysian citizens and given their MyKads. All were born In India but had claimed in their SDs that they were born in Sabah.
Lawyer Karpal Singh once defended Pakistani carper seller Salman Majid – Google the story – against deportation. Salman had the same story as Majid Kani. Salman was born in Pakistan but claimed in a SD to have been born in Ranau, Sabah. Salam, who claimed that he was milked by authorities in Malaysia, was released from detention after former Sabah Chief Minister Harris Salleh turned up in Court on his behalf and declared that “Salam had always been a loyal BN supporter and voter”.
Under the Federal Constitution, foreigners are only eligible to apply for naturalization to be citizens; their children born in Malaysia will have to apply to be registered as citizens while the third generation, born in Malaysia, is automatically citizens by operation of law. Except for the last category, the other two will be issued citizenship papers.
Federal Government not above the law or Sabah Government
So what Harris virtually implied as a witness at the RCI, of the Federal Government being above the law, is not true. The Federal Government has no power to issue MyKads to any Tom, Dick and Harry in Sabah. Also, contrary to Harris’s extraordinary claim, it’s not the work of the state government to fill up forms for illegal immigrants. Thirdly, the Federal Government has no right to issue permanent residence or citizenships to foreigners in Sabah or Sarawak without the recommendation of these state governments as the initiating party.
Based on what little has been revealed so far at the RCI, there’s no reason for the 13th General Election to go ahead in Sabah without the electoral rolls being made squeaky clean.
Najib's revenge
It
would not be surprising to learn that Prime Minister Najib Razak had
deliberately chosen this late juncture for the RCI to strike back at
Mahathir for going about in an underhand manner to remove him from
office.Ops Durian Buruk or Projek IC Mahathir may just be the tip of the proverbial iceberg.
There are others, more Indonesians than Filipinos, who are holding MyKads that they are not eligible to hold under the Constitution.
Blogger M.D. Mutalib and anti-illegal immigrant activist Dr Chong Eng Leong – author of Lest We Forget – Issues of Sovereignty in Sabah – have amassed volumes of material on the illegal immigrant phenomenon in Sabah. It’s said that they are on the RCI witness list.
Three other key witnesses are Parti Bersatu Sabah secretary-general Radin Malleh, former Upko Deputy President Wilfred Mojilip Bumburing and Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) Batu Sapi division chief Hassnar Ebrahim who was once held under the draconian Internal Security Act (ISA) for spilling the beans on illegal immigrants on the electoral rolls.
The likely stories of all three witnesses can be Googled.
The public are awaiting their testimony at the RCI with bated breaths.
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