Can you expect thieves to arrest themselves?’

 

By Joseph Bingkasan of Free Malaysia Today

| November 21, 2012

A Sabah-based activist has accused Upko of pussyfooting around the illegal immigrant issue.

 

KOTA KINABALU: The author of a book ‘Lest We Forget’ that chronicled the ‘acquisition’ of Sabah by Umno-linked authorities, who re-engineered the demographics of the state, is surprised that local leaders are now downplaying the facts.

Expressing his concern, Dr Chong Eng Leong said he was worried that even a hardline local Barisan Nasional coalition component was backing away from the controversial issue after years of championing it.

Chong is particularly incensed that state assembly representative Donald Mojuntin, the son of the late Peter Mojuntin who is lionised as a defender of Sabah’s rights, was now choosing to limit the fallout from a widely acknowledged illegal act.

He accused Mojuntin, from the United Pasokmomogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation (Upko) party, who was formerly a parliamentarian of manipulating for personal reasons a pivotal issue in state and national politics.

Mojuntin has also riled independents with his conciliatory stand on other sensitive Sabah-centric issues notably the date of the formation of Malaysia.

Chong said Mojuntin’s recent statement “let’s not waste time and effort to over-politicise it” when speaking about the problem of illegal immigrants in Sabah, was self-serving.

“I am sure Donald (Mojuntin) and Upko know that hundreds of thousands of foreign migrants are in the Sabah electoral rolls – they decide which political party to govern us. Isn’t this problem a political issue, Donald?” asked Chong who is now with PKR and known for his stance on immigration reform.

He said the coalition partners appeared confused over their stand on the issue with Upko president Bernard Dompok once saying that internal upheavals and the strained relationship between state and federal governments had hampered efforts to resolve the problem.

Chong’s book gives a detailed insight of the audacious re-creation of Sabah’s ethnic and religious makeup of the state to tilt the balance of political power in favour of the ruling BN coalition and Umno in particular.

He pointed out that though the Umno-led coalition had been governing Sabah since 1994, repeated calls by Sabah BN members for a royal inquiry since 1996 had not been entertained until this year and even then reluctantly and with limitations.

“Isn’t this political? Donald (Mojuntin) also said the RCI has no power nor manpower to take action on its findings and recommendations as this belongs to relevant bodies like police, immigration and the NRD,” noted Chong.

Immigration, police, NRD involved

Chong said that by stating this, Mojuntin was conveniently ignoring the fact that during in the Likas election petition hearing in 1999, witnesses testified under oath that the meetings, chaired by the late Megat Junid, the deputy home minister at the time, discussed how ICs could be given to foreigners in Sabah and these meetings “involved immigration, NRD and top guns from Bukit Aman”.

“Can you expect the thieves to arrest themselves?

“My research on this issue since the late 90’s is to let us Sabahans (be) aware of this treacherous deed done by the federal government – Dompok knew the modus operandi as he had heard the testimonies from public and briefings by NRD when he was the chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Integrity in 2006.”

He said that Dompok is now urging the public to come forward and help the RCI to set things right but asked since he himself knew the modus operandi, would Dompok come forward to testify.

“I don’t know if I am one of the 48 witnesses identified by the RCI but if not I shall come forward come Jan 14, 2013,” said Chong.

He added that since former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad had admitted he did grant citizenship to foreign migrants after decades of silence when challenged,”he must be called if his name is not on the list of 48″.

“The RCI has the power to call anyone to its chamber and even interrogate, if need be,” he emphasised.

Chong said it was hard to believe that the inquiry would lead anywhere as it was the BN government that started this issuance of ICs and citizenship to foreigners for decades through falsified documents and was still doing it now in spite of the RCI in progress.

“Who is going to believe that BN wants to solve this treasonous action?

“Dompok, Donald, and all of you in Upko, if you still vote for BN – the next BN federal government will for sure continue issue MyKad and citizenship to the millions of foreigners already in Sabah now and mind you when the next electoral boundaries are redrawn you shall kiss good-bye to your so-called struggle for your people.

“And forever we Sabahans will become refugees in our own land,” he warned

Sabah RCI identifies 48 witnesses

By Michael Kaung of Free Malaysia Today

| November 1, 2012

           

Irrespective of whether or not the elections are called, the RCI on Sabah's population burst will begin in January 2013.

 

KOTA KINABALU: The Royal Commission of Inquiry into Sabah’s over three decade old illegal immigrant controversy will start public hearings next year.

With the 13th general election due anytime now and some expecting parliament to be dissolved this month, the five-man panel headed by former chief judge of Borneo Steve Shim Lip Kiong announced Jan 14 as D-Day for Sabahans to hear evidence of what many claim is a massive immigration system fraud.

Shim said the panel had so far identified 48 witnesses to be called for the public hearing which will be held at the Kota Kinabalu High Court.

“We met today to finalise the list of witnesses and (look at) their relevance in our inquiry,” he told reporters after the panel met for their first meeting since their appointment on Sept 21.

Shim disclosed that since their appointment, they had set up an investigative team to identify witnesses for the inquiry into the illegal immigrant problem.

He said the investigative team had done a good job identifying witnesses who will give evidence at the public hearing.

He declined to reveal the witness list but urged “anyone who can give us relevant information” to “come forward to testify.”

Shim also rejected criticism that the RCI panel was dragging its feet on the issue.

“No delay … in fact our team of investigators have covered a substantial part in identifying witnesses.”

Six months target
On the limited time given to complete the inquiry, he said they were not worried as there were provisions for them to request an extension.

“Barring any complications, we hope to complete it within six months. Hopefully, we will be able to solve the problem (of illegal immigrants in the state),” he said

The RCI’s terms of reference empower the panel to determine the number of immigrants in Sabah that have been given Malaysian citizenship and if so whether the issuance of citizenship documents was legal.

The terms of reference stipulate that the panel can investigate the legality of the issuance of citizenship to immigrants in Sabah, verify if they are indeed holding blue identity cards or temporary identification receipts or citizenship documents had been illegally registered into the electoral rolls.

The panel can also investigate the reasons for the abnormal increase in Sabah’s population.

The other members of the panel are former Universiti Malaysia Sabah vice chancellor Kamaruzaman Ampon, former Sabah deputy chief minister and state attorney general Herman Luping, for state secretary KY Mustafa and Malaysian Crime Prevention Foundation president Henry Chin.

The secretary of the panel is Saripuddin Kasim, who is also Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Ministry secretary general.

 

My Say:

 

Finally, the RCI will begin to sit and all is now waiting for the result of their inquiry in June or July.

Filipino peace means nothing to immigrants

Patrick Lee as published HERE

 

| October 10, 2012

If there is peace in the Southern Philippines, will the thousands of immigrants in Sabah finally leave? Local pundits don't think so.

 

PETALING JAYA: Even if peace comes to the conflict-ridden Southern Philippines, few in Sabah believe that Filipino immigrants or refugees now residing in the state will return there.

 

The exodus back simply won’t happen, said Kota Kinabalu-based social activist Marcel Jude. This, he added, was because many Filipinos had flocked to Sabah for economic reasons.

 

Jude was asked his views following the signing of a peace agreement between Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels and the Philippine government last Sunday.

 

Pundits generally felt that the peace agreement would mean little to the Filipinos who fled to East Malaysia in fear for their lives.

 

“In the 70s, there were war refugees…,” Jude, a the lawyer, told FMT referring to the Islamic insurgency which has reigned in the Southern Philippines since 1969.

“But that was only the tip of the iceberg. People came here because Malaysia was economically better.

“Whatever happens in the Southern Philippines will not see the lessening of illegal immigrants to Sabah. It will continue to have this,” he said.

 

The large number of immigrants have been a contentious issue for local Sabahans. Many groups have raised concerns of becoming minorities in their state, due to the huge influx of foreigners over the years.

 

Recent records have put this number at 889,700, which is at least 25% of the state’s 3.2 million population. Others have estimated this figure to be higher.

 

More than 150,000 people were estimated to have been killed during the Philippines’ 53-year-long insurgency.

Consumer economy driven by immigrants

 

Things, Jude added, were also complicated by children born to immigrants staying here, many of whom had no connection to the Philippines.

 

To make matters worse, some of the Filipino immigrants were even supposedly given Malaysian identity cards over the years, certifying many as Sabah-born natives.

 

The federal government has set up a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) to look into the issuance of citizenships to illegal immigrants, a matter that allegedly took place during prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s reign.

 

But legalised or not, Jude said that these people would eventually take over the state’s economy, bit by bit.

 

“Before, during Chinese New Year, all the shops would be closed because the Chinese [would go on holiday]. Now if these people closed shop, the whole economy here would come to a standstill.”

 

“I don’t see why they would want to go back when they’re all making good money. Why would they want to go back?” he said, alluding to the immigrants.

 

Local State Reform Party (STAR) politician Awang Ahmad Shah was just as pessimistic about the whole idea.

 

He alleged that poor economic conditions in the Philippines would not attract Filipinos to go back home.

 

Himself married to a Filipino, Awang said: “The problem in the Philippines is that although the amount of land is huge, it is all owned by the elites and those in power.”

“So the village people don’t even have land to buy a house. And the cost of living is just too high. Petrol, diesel and cooking oil is just so expensive.”

 

‘They will never leave Sabah’

 

Malaysia’s seemingly lax restrictions on immigration, he added, were also a factor.

 

According to him, the government was not making it difficult for Filipinos to stay in Sabah.

“We have to make their life tough. If they are illegal, we must send them home. It is not a question of being inhumane… chasing them out. But if we don’t do that, they will never leave Sabah,” he said.

 

Universiti Teknologi Mara Sabah political analyst Arnold Puyok was similarly doubtful of the idea of Filipino immigrants leaving the state. He said that it was a debatable matter even if peace came to the Southern Philippines and economic development there in full sway.

 

“We have to know the reasons why the immigrants are here. It boils down to the issue of whether they feel safe to go back to their own country,” he said.

 

Puyok added that the only way to solve Sabah’s immigrant problem was to have a “concrete” bilateral agreement between the Filipino and Malaysian governments.

 

Aside from the RCI, the federal government has said little on what it intends to do with Sabah’s immigrants, a population which appears to be rising in number every year.

SABAH RCI WAS NOT THE ANSWER

By : DR. CHONG ENG LEONG as published HERE EVER SINCE Malaysia was formed, security and sovereignty of Sabah within Malaysia was always in our mind. KL of course knew that this was the prime concern of Bornean States of Sabah and Sarawak when formation of Malaysia was agreed upon. Najib himself as Defence Minister in 2000 stated that PTI problem in Sabah was serious. He repeated saying this in 2005 and 2006 as Deputy PM. One senior Minister even said that the situation was critical. However, numerous Police Reports lodged but only token probing, Court Judgments, ACA Report, Suhakam Reports, countless yearly electoral objections between 1997 and 2001by PBS – all these come to nothing. KL even ordered NRD to stop entertaining proceedings of Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) on Integrity of 2006. (Our main speaker today, Mutalib M.D, would certainly touch on this – he and Jabar Khan did testify in the proceedings of this PSC.) KL denied any wrongdoing, denied extra-ordinary population increase in Sabah since 1970 but gave ridiculous and insulting reasons for the increase by Nazri and others. Nazri added some more ridiculous reasons few days ago like “Malaysians from Peninsula and Sarawak came to Sabah because of economic mobilisation” – what does this mean, after all Sabah is the poorest State? Nazri even said that opposition accused BN Govt of giving citizenship to foreigners for votes; but Salman Majid, a foreigner, testified this in a High Court case in KL few years ago: foreigner migrants who were given blue IC and citizenship were to promise to vote BN in general elections. Nazri had stated many times in Parliament that illegal immigrants in Sabah would be granted IMM13 or refugee status if they were from Philippines and that there was BN govt’s future plan for them like granting PR status and may be citizenship. KL denied there was Project IC for foreign migrants, denied existence of phantom voters in Sabah rolls in spite of PBS twice (in 1997 and 2001) handed lists of around 70,000 non-qualified names on the rolls to the Election Commission, not to mention the Judgment of 1999 Likas election petition. And KL refused to set up the RCI ever since 1996 when first asked for by PBS. Last year, Home Minister Hishammuddin denied there was Project IC and that the Sabah RCI was not the answer. Yet he said last week that he had ordered his ministry’s agencies to fully cooperate with the RCI when called to help investigation by the Commission. Does this mean there were readymade answers for the agencies to reply to questions by the RCI? It took Bersih 2.0 in 2011 to force BN to set up the PSC on electoral reform. Sabah participants except one in this PSC demanded for a Sabah RCI on the illegal immigrants, Project IC and non-qualified voters in the electoral rolls. Federal Cabinet agreed on 8 Feb 2012, but PM only announced it on 1 June after Bersih 3.0 and Sabah PKR’s Tuntut dan Tubuh RCI movement. The TOR was not ready until 11 August and it took them another 40 days to get the appointment letters ready for the Commissioners. Today in October we just heard that there was the first meeting of this RCI Commissioners last week. The six months’ period granted for the completion of their prescribed work falls in next April in which month the current Parliament must be dissolved for PRU13 within 60 days. This tells us much about BN’s sincerity or lack of it. The first three Terms of the TOR ask the Commissioners to investigate the number of foreign migrants who have been given blue IC or citizenship, if these were given legally and if they are registered in the electoral rolls. Just investigate but no power to recommend any action, no power to pin-point persons responsible. When given the blue IC or citizenship through falsified Sijil Akuan by stating that the applicant was born in Sabah when in fact not is surely not legal. The BN Government knew about this illegality but then why asking the RCI to see if it was legal? Why nothing in the TOR to investigate the person or persons who master-minded this treacherous and treasonous action? Why named Project Mahathir? ISA detainee, Hassnar Ibrahim detailed the modus operandi of issuance of ICs to foreign migrants during the trial of the Likas election petition 1999 – that was Mahathir’s instruction. That was happening in the 80’s, about 400,000 blue ICs issued to foreigners. (Mutalib was also another key witness at this trial and surely he would touch on this as well.) There was another big wave of issuance of blue IC and citizenship in the 90’s. Another ISA detainee (Jabar Khan) testified in the proceedings of the PSC on Integrity, (like our Mutalib did). Jabar was the Secretary of the UMNO Task Force, formed in 1991 when UMNO set foot in Sabah. The Director of this Task Force was current Sabah CM and its Deputy was a current DCM. The job of this Task Force was to recruit foreigners and have them issued with ICs and registered them as UMNO members and in Sabah electoral rolls, targeting 30 out of the 48 state seats. UMNO wanted to kill off PBS in the coming elections then. This was testified by Jabar. Tun Mahathir was challenged but kept silent for years but last July he admitted having granted foreign migrants citizenship, saying that they were qualified because they could speak Malay – if qualified, why was there the need to falsify the Sijil Akuan to say born in Sabah? This third Term is to find out if these Project citizens were registered in the electoral rolls but does not have to find out how many of them registered. As mentioned earlier, PBS did submit lists of around 70,000 phantom voters twice (1997 and 2001) to EC. Actually there are at least 200,000 such phantom voters in the current Sabah rolls of around 950,000 voters – this Forum does not have time to go to detail of this. Terms four and five touch on standard operating procedure (SOP), methods and regulations on giving blue IC or citizenship to foreign migrants. The RCI is tasked to find out if these were done properly and devoid of any irregularity from the legal aspect. And to compare these to the international standards and norms with the view to further strengthen them. The BN government must be of the opinion that Commissioners are yes-man – NRD and Immigration Dept were instructed to give IC or citizenship against our law and Constitution, yet asking the RCI to see if the procedure etc were devoid of any irregularity. International standards and norms? It was done illegally to start with – how then to compare it to international standards and norms? Giving IC or citizenship based on religion and the promise to vote for the incumbent government are certainly not in line with any international standard. The SOP etc are sound and if strictly followed there won’t be any irregularity. The powers that be bent the laws by ordering the agencies to give IC and citizenship to foreign migrants based on falsified Sijil Akuan. Term six is to investigate the cause for the population increase in Sabah according to four categories and then to study the effect of those who are registered in the electoral rolls. The four categories are: 1. People of Sabah residing in Sabah, including those who have been issued with ICs and citizenship through late birth registration certificate. BN government categorised these foreign migrants who have been issued IC and citizenship as “people of Sabah who have been issued with ICs and citizenship through late birth registration certificate”. This is to legitimise the issuance of the IC or citizenship – through the late birth registration certificate. Again and again the BN government is trying to fool us Sabahans or they believe that the Commissioners are ignorant. Foreign migrants means just that – foreign born. How to have late birth registration in Sabah if foreign born? At the back of the Blue ICs was stated that particulars of the holders were from Sijil Akuan, not from birth certificate. These are the Project Mahathir citizens – in 2010 they were 737,000 of them in Sabah, against 1.617 million genuine Malaysian citizens. 2. Foreign workers (including their dependents). In 2010 there were 955,000 foreigners registered in Sabah (Labuan included) – 750,000 were workers with permits and their dependents? 3. Illegal immigrants (including their dependents) – the paperless. CM Dept said that around 120,000 of the 955,000 were paperless, including dependents? If known paperless when doing the census exercise, why was there not any action taken? It is estimated that there are one to two million paperless foreigners lurching and reeling around in Sabah at the moment – no one knows the exact number of them. 4. Refugees or IMM13 holders. CM Dept said that around 84,000 of the 955,000 were refugees. There were 57,000 in early 70’s and 40 years later there should be 300,000 of them – but majority of them are in possession of PR status granted unilaterally by KL side or Project Mahathir citizenship. This means that there were more than three million foreign migrants in Sabah in 2010, including the Project Mahathir citizens. And only 1.617 million were genuine Malaysians. Where is the promise to safeguard Sabah’s security and sovereignty within Malaysia? Janji ditepati? Summary of Sabah’s population in 2010 (Labuan included): The effect of those who are registered in the electoral rolls: In 1999, Langkom and Sook state seats (KDM majority) were replaced by two seats in Tawau Residency where Project Mahathir citizens were in large number. In 2004 when 12 new state seats were created, eight were in areas with large number of these Project Mahathir citizens. There goes our sovereignty. There were eight demands asked for by Bersih 3.0 for the whole country, plus the RCI on the crisis of foreigners’ issues in Sabah – the outcome of this RCI would be either a source of pride to the future generations or a focus of contempt. Term seven is to investigate the social implication arising from the issuance of blue IC or citizenship to foreign migrants on Sabah community. The greatest sin of the BN government is to categorise the foreign migrants who were given blue IC and citizenship, given illegally, as Sabah Bumiputra. This erodes the fundamental rights of the indigenous people of Sabah, severely disturb the harmonious demography and silently marginalise them into oblivion. It is sad to say that the future role of the indigenous people is for decoration only during festive occasions. The statistics on the racial breakdown of Sabah population since 1970 as shown below speaks volume. The racial breakdown in Sabah (Labuan included) according to the Dept of Statistics Malaysia, Sabah: The BN government knew about this statistics and they tried to downplay the glaringly staggering figure of “Malay” population in Sabah that they issued statistics allegedly from Malaysia Population Census that Malay population in Sabah in 2010 was only 178,000, (the balance of 220,000 was added to the category of Bumiputra Lain). BN is trying to fool us Sabahans for the umpteen times. Term eight is to find out the number of stateless foreigners given blue IC or citizenship. Recommendations 1. Call not just government agencies like NRD, Police, Immigration Dept – but also ex-ISA detainees involved in this IC scam (like Hassnar Ibrahim, Jabar Khan, Yakup Damsar), SUHAKAM, NGOs who are in the knows, and individuals like Mutalib. Heads of present and past EPF and SOCSO knew about phantom contributors – call them to testify as well. And please accept volunteers who want to come forward to testify; 2. Not just investigate but also (i) probe into the people responsible and have the power to recommend appropriate actions to be taken on them and (ii) to recommend reviewing citizenship of these Project Mahathir citizens and follow-up actions; 3. Deport all paperless foreigners; 4. To investigate the number of foreign migrants granted PR status in Sabah and appropriate recommendations like invoking the IGC Reports on immigration and follow-up actions; 5. To recommend to stop issuing IMM13 or refugee status to Filipino, review their status and deal with them appropriately; 6. Foreign workers with permit must not be accompanied by dependents; 7. Corruptions within the agencies concerned to be dealt with seriously – install patriotism to our people esp these agencies’ personnel; 8. For those foreigners who could not be deported, consider distribute them proportionately to rest of Malaysia or to third countries; 9. Investigate the number of these foreign migrants registered in the electoral rolls with the view to expunge them before the next elections.