Sabah RCI report unedited, Chief Secretary says

(Malay Mail Online) – Putrajaya gave its assurance today that the Royal Commission of Inquiry’s (RCI) report on Sabah’s illegal immigrants problem had not been tampered with, deflecting allegations of cover-ups and watered-down facts.

Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Ali Hamsa told a press conference here that the report, which was made public today, was unedited and presented to the media as is.

“The report is legit and unedited, I give you my guarantee,” he told reporters at a function to announce the RCI’s findings and recommendations.

RCI secretary Datuk Saripuddin Kasim chimed in that it was the exact report tabled to the Federal Cabinet, without a single change.

“I hope that with the announcement of this RCI today, issues of illegal immigrants in Sabah will be laid to rest. We are looking for a way forward to solve the issue and will use the findings of the RCI as a guideline and main reference,” said Ali.

Prior to it being made public today, many were speculating that the findings would name high profile politicians for being involved in the controversial “Project IC” brought up several times during testimonies in the nine month public hearing last year.

Also present at the press conference were Attorney-General Tan Sri Gani Patail and State Secretary Tan Sri Sukarti Wakiman.

Opposition MP Darrell Leiking said he was totally dismayed by the report and has called for an emergency Parliament session to debate the findings.

In expressing disbelief that syndicates were behind the massive influx of illegal immigrants in Sabah, Leiking said that taxpayers’ monies have already been wasted by the RCI.

Earlier, when asked to comment on whether phantom voters had affected past election results, Abdul Gani, said it was not an issue as the electoral roll has been cleared.

“There is no implication as the numbers are negligible. We will take it into consideration if there is a lot of names,” he said, adding names of dubious instant citizens have been cancelled from the electoral roll.

“There should not be a problem now. If there is proof that more names are not valid, we will remove those from the voters registration too, according to the law,” said Abdul Gani.

The findings of the RCI reported that there are non-citizens registered in the electoral rolls but their exact numbers are uncertain as witnesses have estimated between 80,620 and at least 200,000 dubious names.