No sense in RCI for illegal immigrants
By Casey Lee, Free Malaysia Today
KOTA KINABALU: Former senator-turned-activist author, Dr Chong Eng Leong, is convinced that a PKR-inspired solution to the massive presence of illegal immigrants is the way ahead for the state.
The PKR proposal will see those who have gained Malaysian citizenship by dubious means granted permanent residency (PR) status instead.
“Why do we want a RCI (Royal Commission of Inquiry) to look at the illegal immigrants?
“The illegal immigrants are already illegal. It has nothing to do with getting permanent residence,” he said.
Chong was responding to an uproar caused by PKR’s alleged promise of providing PR status to illegal immigrants in its “Buku Jingga” (Orang Book).
Buku Jingga, which was launched by PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail during the party’s state convention here on March 12 and 13, drew flak from Barisan Nasional (BN) leaders and former PKR vice-president Jeffrey Kitingan.
They said that by forming an RCI on the illegal immigrant issue in Sabah and subsequently granting PR status to the “new citizens”, PKR would be legalising “illegal immigrants” in Sabah.
Chong, however, disagrees.
Speaking to FMT recently, Chong explained that offering PR status would invalidate those who were given MyKads (via Project IC) of voting rights since their nationality would have to be determined.
“Their names would then be expunged from the electoral rolls as they would no longer be Malaysian citizens.
“Giving them PR is not legitimising their status as citizens because their nationality has to be checked when they apply for PR.
“By asking them to apply for PR and studying whether it should be given, makes their ICs invalid and their names will be checked on the electoral rolls to be expunged,” he said, adding that it was a way out of a complex situation.
Falsified SDs
Chong made it clear that he was speaking in his capacity as the author of “Lest We Forget”, the book that relates what transpired and led to the “reverse takeover” of the state by illegal immigrants who “voted” out the duly elected state government in 1994 and 1999.
The RCI proposed in PKR’s manifesto-type book was meant to investigate Project IC and not the illegal immigrants in the state, said Chong, a practising consultative surgeon.
According to him, there is no need to set up an RCI on the immigrants because they are outright illegal and do not require a RCI to be evicted from the state.
Chong, who presented a paper on the issue during the recent PKR convention here, noted that details of the Project IC, also known as Project Mahathir, were revealed by an ISA detainee. The detainee was involved in the project in the 1980s.
The detainee, Hasnnar Ebrahim, had alleged that senior-most government officials participated in the “new citizenship” scheme to overthrow the Christian-led opposition PBS government.
“Project IC in the 1980s was succinctly revealed by Hasnnar, detained under ISA for his role in the issuance of ICs based on falsified SD (statutory declaration). He (Hasnnar) apologised to the public for this.
