A former Sabah National Registration Department (NRD) official has provided the clearest proof yet that there was indeed a concerted effort by the authorities to alter Sabah's electoral demographics in the 1990s.
Testifying before the royal commission of inquiry (RCI) on Sabah's immigration problems today, Mohd Nasir Sugip said his department had once taken instructions from the state's Election Commission (EC) to provide unqualified immigrants with identity card numbers so that they are allowed to vote.
Mohd Nasir, who was once detained under the Internal Security Act, said the clandestine scheme was dubbed 'Ops Durian Buruk' and ran from 1992 to 1995.
"At that time, the Sabah SPR director Wan Ahmad (Wan Yusof, left) handed over a list of 16,000 names to be classified as 'Bumiputera Islam' voters.
"My boss, Sabah NRD director Ramli Kamarudin, then verbally told me to execute this project," he said.
Mohd Nasir also implicated three other individuals who were present when the instruction was issued, however their names could not be obtained as the RCI conducting officers - representatives of the Attorney-General's Chambers - were not forthcoming.
'It worked, BN won'
He said that he followed his instructions and recruited other unnamed officers at the district level for this operation.
Mohd Nasir said the operation involved providing the immigrants with identity cards and generating identity card numbers based on the date of birth, photographs and names provided by the EC.
"The list consisted of Filipinos and Indonesians who were Muslim and aged above 21 years old," he said, adding that they were mostly from Sandakan, Tawau, Sempoerna and other parts of Sabah.
He added that these individuals are then planted as voters across Sabah with the objective of boosting the number of Muslim voters in the state.
"An example is in the state assembly seat of Sugud and the parliamentary seat of Kinabatangan.
"We planted about 800 voters in Sugud and in the next general election the results were in favour of BN. The candidate won by 79 votes," he said.
Mohd Nasir said he did not receive any gratification by participating in the operation but was merely following instructions, for which he was detained under the ISA for three years beginning May 30, 1995.
Nigel Aw Mkini
Problematic applications for Malaysian identity cards are listed into three categories, P1, P2 and P3, according to National Registration Department (NRD) Identity Card Division head Roslan Alias said.
ReplyDeleteRoslan told the Royal Commission of Inquiry on illegal immigrants in Sabah panel yesterday that categories P1 and P2 were applications that could not be processed over the counter.
ReplyDeleteAsked by lawyer Datuk James Ghani, who was representing Dr. Chong Eng Leong, if any of the applicants were still in possession of the canceled identification cards, Roslan replied, “yes, maybe they photocopied the identification documents including the temporary receipts.
ReplyDeleteJames also asked if there was a possibility that these people were registered as voters, to which Roslan said, ‘I cannot comment on that as voting is an individual’s right, Also voter registration comes under the purview of the Election Commission, not NRD.
ReplyDeleteTo a question from Commissioner Henry Chin whether NRD had carried out an internal investigation to find out why and to whom the Malaysian identity cards were issued, and was it because of careless(ness) (or) with the element of bribery or negligence, Roslan replied, “internal investigation was conducted after 1996 when the NRD officers were arrested for wrongdoings.”
ReplyDeleteBefore posing the questions, Chin had cited Roslan’s previous statement that 970,119 blue identity cards were issued in Sabah up to 1996.
ReplyDeleteOf the total, 127,949 were ‘problematic’ and of the total, 91,656 identity cards were canceled by NRD because they had been issued through dubious means.
ReplyDeleteThe statutory declaration must be signed by a village head and District Officer or Assistant District Officer at the place where the applicant was born.
ReplyDeleteIt is however not the NRD’s responsibility to verify if the supporting documents were authentically signed by the DO or ADO, he stressed, adding that it was accepted at face value at the time of application.
ReplyDeleteFrom the village heads,Ado,Do NRD EC Haris uptill Mahathir back then,all are cheats ,liars and should all must be JAILED, Pairin,Maximus,Dompok,Liew and the rest of the upkos,PBS ,Gerakans,LDPs,ITS YOU ALL THAT HAS SOLE our beloved Land Below the Wind to the MALAYANS BASTARDS,NOW SABAHANS STAND UP ...DONT EVER EVER BE FOOLED AGAIN AND AGAIN,COME LETS BANISHED ALL MALAYANS PARTIES THIS GE13 FROM OUR LAND
ReplyDeleteGolongan yang diragui latar belakangnya harus dilucut dari senarai mengundi.
ReplyDeleteisu projek ic bukan isu baru lagi, projek ini lam atimbul di PRU Malaysia.
ReplyDeleteNRD harus memastikan mykad diberi kepada golongan yang benar berkelayakan.
ReplyDeleteRCI Pati Sabah yang sedang berjalan banyak membicarakan "mempertahankan" kuasa BN pada tahun 1994? Keterangan itu sungguh bercanggah dengan fakta.
ReplyDeleteBn Sabah tidak berkuasa di Sabah sejak tahun 1990, kerana PBS yang merupakan komponen Bn sejak tahun 1985 keluar daripada komponen itu pada tahun 1990.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteDakwaan dan pendedahan kononnya berlaku pertambahan pengundi islam antara 1990-1994 untuk mempertahankan kerajaan Bn adalah silap, kerana Bn Sabah tidak pernah menang pilihanraya baik pada PRU-1990 mahupun 1994.
Jika juga benar bahawa kerajaan Bn semasa Berjaya 1976-1985 berlaku pertambahan undi untuk menyokong Berjaya, ternyata silap juga, kerana pada PRN Sabah 1985, Parti Berjaya hanya mendapat 6 Kerusi, berbanding PBS 25.
ReplyDeleteBn Sabah hanya menang pilihanraya tahun 1999 apabila berlaku pertambahan jumlah kerusi Dewan Undangan Negeri, daripada 48 kepada 60.
ReplyDeleteIngat operasi menahan mereka yang terlibat dengan SKIM CEPAT KAYA mengeluarkan IC Biru Sabah berlaku pada tahun 1995. Pada masa itu ramai individu ditahan melalui ISA termasuk para pegawai JPN dan individu tertentu.
ReplyDeleteKini, apabila mengikuti pendengaran RCI Pati Sabah di Mahkamah Kota Kinabalu, kebanyakan saksi hanya bercakap menggunakan kata-kata, tanpa disertai fakta. Mereka dengan bebas mengaitkan sesiapa termasuk yang telah mati, kerana mereka tahu individu itu tidak mampu mempertahankan diri.
ReplyDeleteSebagai orang biasa, pendengaran RCI yang sedang berlangsung hanya sebagai medan balas dendam bagi individu yang terlibat, kerana kebanyakan mereka yang memberi keterangan adalah mereka yang pernah ditahan melalui ISA.
ReplyDeletePihak Pembangkang terutama Timbalan Presiden PKR Azmin Ali dengan cepat menuding jari kepada Mantan Perdana Menteri Tun Dr Mahathir sebagai pengkhianat, sedangkan RCI itu belumpun memutuskan apa-apa, apakah mengguna pakai kesaksian yang diberikan kerana saksi-saksi tidak mengunakan hujah yang disokong oleh fakta. Kebanyakan keterangan para saksi adalah "hearsay" dan mereka tidak menunjukkan "bukti" yang menyokong keterangan mereka.
ReplyDeleteFormer chief minister, Tan Sri Harris Salleh, yesterday denied that there was ever a “Project IC”, a scheme allegedly created to provide Malaysian citizenship to immigrants in Sabah in return for their votes for the government in Sabah.
ReplyDeleteHarris, who appeared as a witness in front of the Royal Commission of Inquiry on Immigrants in Sabah (RCI), testified that no such project ever existed as claimed by certain quarters.
Delete“I never heard about project IC, I only read it in the newspapers sometimes, some people made accusations in blogs but I never read them because why should I involve my self in all this false stories.
Delete“I don’t want to be involved in all this, they never have proof, they just talk about it, political talk, money talk,” he testified during the second day of the five-day proceeding.
DeleteHarris, the sixth chief minister of Sabah from 1976 to 1985, was asked by RCI Chairman, Tan Sri Amar Steve Shim Lip Kiong, if he has any comments on the allegation in regards to the “Project IC”.
Delete“Even if there were anything, the ICs were probably given in a hurry, because they were giving it in thousands and thousands. All those concerned, they were asked to speed up (the process).
DeleteConducting officer, Manoj Kurup, had asked Harris to clarify whether he had made a quote in a book “007: Lelaki Malaysia Terakhir” by Mutalib MD.
ReplyDeleteHarris declined to give a direct answer, saying that all the illegal activities attributed to him in the book were lies.
Delete“I never did anything illegal. So I don’t want to have to answer that, because what is written in the book are all illegal, not true,” he said.
DeleteHarris also denied allegations that he was involved, at least in instructing that identification cards are to be issued to immigrants, saying he did not have the authority to give such instruction even as the Chief Minister then.
DeleteHarris also denied allegations that he was involved, at least in instructing that identification cards are to be issued to immigrants, saying he did not have the authority to give such instruction even as the Chief Minister then.
DeleteAsked by the Commission if he knows whether the information given to him was correct, he said: “No, unfortunately I’m not a lawyer but I was told so”.
DeleteHe said there were concerns however, that if the refugees were not properly resettled, it may cause problems in the development of Sabah. He added there were also interest in the refugees from the Philippines following a boom in the construction sector at the time of his tenure.
ReplyDelete“Most importantly, the federal government (had) acknowledged and accepted these refugees to stay in Malaysia, and we were told that there was also a UN convention to accept refugees at the time,” he said, adding that the policy on refugees has remained the same until today since it was introduced by the then Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al Haj.
DeleteOn how many immigrants and refugees were issued citizenship during his tenure, Harris said, he had no idea as the federal government never reported the matter to the State.
DeleteHowever, in a written statement he submitted to the Commission, Harris had mentioned that there were an estimated of around 150,000 refugees from the Southern Philippines in Sabah at the peak of their migration into the State in 1973.
DeleteAs to the allegation that immigrants in Sabah seemed to be getting Blue IC and citizenship at a rate faster than the locals, he said that question should be posed to the Federal agencies concerned and not to the State as the matter was under the Federal’s purview.
DeleteAnother two witnesses, Statistics Department Director, Norezan Wahid and Deputy Director of Citizenship Division, National Registration Department, Nik Norashikin Nik Mansur, were called to testify after Harris.
DeleteNorezan in his testimony informed there were 3.2 million people in Sabah based on the population census held in 2010. Out of this figure, he said, about 889,000 were non-citizens.
DeleteNorashikin, meanwhile, said 66,682 immigrants were issued citizenship between 1963 and Oct last year, of which the majority or about half were young applicants who declared Malaysia as their country of birth in their application forms.
DeleteFor those who were born outside Malaysia, successful applicants from China represented the biggest number at over 13,000, Indonesia at second place with over 7,000, and followed by Hong Kong and the Philippines at third and fourth.
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