Phantom Voters In Sabah

Fake Identity Card (IC) holders are now making their way into the Electoral Rolls, said Tuaran MP Datuk Wilfred Bumburing. He said this was uncovered recently when a man who was detained for possessing a fake IC was found to be a voter in Inanam as shown in the Electoral Roll.

This was despite repeated announcements by the Election Commission (EC) that there was no way for people with fake ICs to be registered as voters, he said in his talk at a forum organised by Pakatan Rakyat Sabah in Airport View Hotel, here, Saturday.

Bumburing, who is the leader of the Sabah Reform Movement (APS), claimed that police officers from Sabah who are working in the peninsula had also told him that two people holding fake ICs with Sabah addresses had been arrested there.

"The question is how can a fake IC get through Immigration checks? This can only be done if there is some 'kerjasama' (collaboration)," he said, adding that he had to choose his words carefully. Bumburing said the major promise given to the people of Sabah upon the formation of Malaysia was that the Government must protect the citizens.

However, this was not the case as the rising number of illegal immigrants, who were then given citizenship in the country were actually threatening the security of the original citizens. "There is no country in the world that has no migration population but they came with proper immigration papers. The unique thing about us is that, and I have said this in Parliament, the issuance of ICs to foreigners is faster than the Pos Laju (mail courier service) that former Minister Datuk S. Samy Vellu had been quoted as saying 'today you send, yesterday you'll receive it'," he said. He also said that the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on illegal immigrants alone might not be sufficient since based on past experience it seemed that the Government can choose whether they want to take action following the findings of RCI investigations.

Towards this end, Bumburing said the 13th General Election would be the best and the last chance for the opposition to effect change. Meanwhile, DAP Sabah Secretary, Dr Edwin Bosi, said the fate of the Kadazandusun people is similar to the endangered Sumatran Rhinos. He said in 1931 there were 90,267 Kadazandusuns or about 42 per cent of a population of 214,729, in 1963 the community made up 43 per cent of the population but in 2010, the Kadazandusuns only accounted for 17.8 per cent of Sabah's population of 3.12 million. In his talk entitled impact of illegal immigrants on the Kadazandusuns of Sabah, he said the Kadazandusuns have lost their political advantage in terms of numbers.

"The advantage has now gone when thousands of illegal immigrants have been legalised with many now registered to vote. The Kadazandusuns are now only good for the opposition bench," he said. "They are no more the largest ethnic group in Sabah and they do not have many state or parliamentary seats that they dominate. The enlarged State Assembly from 48 to 60 has been crafted through gerrymandering to give a certain ethnic group majority in the Assembly.

"Kadazandusuns have about 18 state seats and seven MP seats to their advantage. Even if the Kadazandusuns collude with the Chinese community, they can only be good enough to give a good opposition to Umno in Sabah," he said.

The Kadazandusun community's only hope is the awakening of the Muslim natives - Bajau and Irranun-whose rights and privileges were also impacted by the so-called new bumiputera in Sabah, he said. "In view of that, the only hope for the Kadazandusuns is to unite and support Pakatan Rakyat. The Kadazandusun leaders must be brave to fight for the rights of the community within the framework of a Pakatan Rakyat government. "As far as the Kadazandusuns are concerned, this 13th General Election will be a defining moment for the community," he said. Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) Sabah Electoral Reforms Bureau Chief, Dr Chong Eng Leong, claimed that based on his research out of the nearly one million registered voters in the Sabah electoral rolls, about 200,000 of them were with doubtful identification documents.

Dr Chong also criticised the terms of reference of the RCI, which he said did not mention anything about actions to be taken against the offenders in the issuance of ICs to illegal immigrants.

In this respect, he recommended some of the actions for the RCI namely:

1. Call not just government agencies like NRD, Police, Immigration Departments but also ex-ISA detainees involved in this IC scam (like Hassnar Ibrahim, Jabar Khan, Yakup Damsar), Suhakam, NGOs who are in the know and individuals like book author MD Mutalib. Call heads of present and past EPF and Socso who knew about phantom contributors to testify as well and 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;

- Deport all paperless foreigners;

- 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;

- To recommend to stop issuing IMM13 or refugee status to Filipinos, review their status and deal with them appropriately;

- Foreign workers with permit must not be accompanied by dependents;

- Corruption within the agencies concerned to be dealt with seriously - instill patriotism to our people especially these agencies' personnel;

- For foreigners who cannot be deported, consider distributing them proportionately to the rest of Malaysia or to third countries;

- Investigate the number of these foreign migrants registered in the electoral rolls with the view to expunge them before the next elections.

Daily Express

Picture From: http://mutalibmd.blogspot.com/