“Although it is an ongoing RCI proceeding and one has to wait until its conclusion for all the evidence to come in, it is incumbent on the EC to respond immediately either to the public or at the RCI because it is a direct challenge to their integrity,” she said when contacted today.
Describing the allegations as “spine-chilling”, Ambiga (right) said the allegations would undermine public confidence in the electoral system and impair the EC’s ability to conduct elections if left unanswered.
The former Bar Council president also urged the EC to clean up the electoral roll, and expressed concern that what happened in Sabah may have also occurred elsewhere in Malaysia.
Yesterday, several former National Registration Department (NRD) officers told the RCI in Kota Kinabalu that they were instructed to facilitate immigrants to vote during the 1990s and help install a BN-friendly state government.
These operations ranged from issuing identity card receipts of existing voters to immigrants to issuing blue identity cards to unqualified immigrants.
When contacted, EC chairperson Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof said he has been given legal advice not to comment on the proceedings while it is ongoing, and the EC itself would be giving testimony to the RCI sometime in February.
However, he stressed that the EC is currently following due process in registering voters, unlike what had allegedly happened over 20 years ago.
By Koh Jun Lin Mkini
Former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad today admitted that during his tenure, he had given citizenship to Filipino refugees in Sabah who were able to meet all the requirements.
ReplyDelete"There are many (Filipino refugees) in Sabah and they have been there for not one or two days, but for 20 or 30 years. They speak Malay language and they deserve to be recognised as Malaysian citizens," he said.
DeleteSpeaking to reporters after the discourse titled "From the Mind of Tun Dr Mahahir Mohamad: The Future of the Malays and Islam after GE13" here today, the former premier said problems surfaced when certain quarters started to feel uncomfortable when the foreigners were given Malaysian citizenship.
ReplyDelete"They deserve the citizenship and they have met the requirements, so we gave them. I admit that during my tenure I gave citizenships. These people had been travelling back and forth between southern Philippine and Sabah because they refuse to abide by the border set by the colonial power.
Delete"The same goes to those who crossed the sea from Sumatera to Peninsular Malaysia," he said.
DeleteDr Mahathir was responding to the news portal report quoting Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) deputy president Mohamed Azmin Ali as saying that the Royal Commission of Inquiry to investigate the problems of illegal immigrants in Sabah was told that Dr Mahathir was a 'traitor' to the country.
DeleteWhen asked whether he was willing to give his statement to the RCI, Dr Mahathir said: "If they ask me I would go."
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