The missing 5,000 pages would give true picture of project IC

Rectify the wild statements made to RCI Published on: Wednesday, May 20, 2015 Email to a friend Printer Friendly Kota Kinabalu: Former Chief Minister Tan Sri Harris Salleh called on Technical Committee on Management of Foreigners in Sabah Chairman, Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan, to recall witnesses claiming the existence of "Projek IC" during the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) hearing. "Tan Sri Chairman in order to clear once for all as to the truth of these wild statements made by witnesses who were sworn to tell the truth, it is very important that your committee recall these witnesses and ask them to produce evidences and proof of their statements. "If they cannot provide them, they had committed perjury. Your committee should then recommend for their persecution for perjury," he said in an open letter to Pairin here dated May 17, that was made available to Daily Express. Harris said the Report of the Royal Commission as reported in the press neither made any recommendations nor pointed out any wrong doings or irregularities on the issue of illegal immigrants in Sabah. "It would seem that the Commission simply listened to anyone who appeared before it just for the sake of making statements. Therefore a large number of the statements to the Commission that were included in the reports were wild. "These wild statements were never substantiated by the witnesses, despite the fact that these so-called witnesses were asked to take an oath before the Commission which has the same power as the court. "Unfortunately, it would appear that the Commission did not follow the normal practice of requiring proof for claims and statements that were made," he said, adding that the wild statements contained in the report and quoted from time to time by Sabah leaders were dangerous and frightening to ordinary Sabahans. Harris said since these statements were included in the Report, the majority of Sabahans take them for granted as true, especially as the witnesses took the oath to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Among them, he said, was an ex-banker who claimed he master-minded the "Project IC" and gave the idea to Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad who was then the Prime Minister. However, the Commission never asked the witness to substantiate their claims by asking questions such as: i. Did you organise the Project IC? ii. When did you propose the idea to Tun Mahathir? iii. Are you sure Tun Mahathir needed advice from someone like you if he intended to grant citizenship to those who were qualified then? iv. Where was your office in Sabah at that point of time? v. You claimed that you were ex-banker; which bank did you work for? What was the reason you left the bank? Harris said Hassanar Ibrahim from Sandakan had claimed that he was given 32,000 application forms by the late Dato' Megat Junid. But, he said Hassanar was never asked to substantiate his claims on questions such as: i. Where did the late Dato' Megat (the late then Deputy Home Minister) give you the forms – at his office? At his house? Where? ii. How many kilos or tonnes did the 32,000 forms weigh? iii. How did you transport the forms from Dato Megat's office or his house to the airport? iv. Who paid for the transport and freight charges of the forms? v. Did you declare the forms to the Customs at Kota Kinabalu Airport? vi.Where did you keep the 32,000 forms in Kota Kinabalu? vii. How did you distribute the forms to those required to fill them? viii. How many forms were filled and submitted to the authorities? vix. Were you aware that before making statements you were asked take an oath to tell the truth? x. Were you detained under the ISA in the late 1980s? Is it true you were detained for selling fake ICs? Harris said Dr Chong Eng Leong claimed that a witness stated that over 750,000 late registrations were issued and most of these were from the interior. "By any standard or record this figure is definitely not true – the most is around 70,000 even with the Honorable Chief Justice of Borneo organising a team to help the people of the interior to apply for late registration of birth certificate. "It would appear that Dr Chong was never asked by the Commission to provide the proof; neither was the National Registration Department called to confirm or negate the claim," he said. Harris said there was also a statement made to the Commission by a senior police officer from Kuala Lumpur that he knew there were over 30,000 Identity Cards issued to illegals."Again the Commission apparently did not ask for the proof or cross-examine the witness on his sworn statements," he said. There were also wild statements made by both the Sandakan and Tawau Municipality Presidents that 40 per cent of the people in their municipalities were foreigners. "Their figures must have included those who are ethnically 'Suluks' and 'Bajaus'; today, even Sabahans whose forefathers were 'Pakistanis' would probably be included as foreigners. "Unfortunately these two Presidents were never asked to substantiate their claims; because they are like 'Governors' in the districts, their unproven statements carry weight and taken as true." Harris said there were many other wild statements, which the Commission simply listened to, recorded, and included in their Report without verifying the truths of such statements. At the same time, he said the Malays were generally disappointed with two prominent Malay members (Datuk Dr Kamaruzaman Ampon, former Vice-Chancellor of Universiti Malaysia Sabah; and Tan Sri KY Mustafa, former Sabah State Secretary) who were supposed to represent the Malay interest. "Based on newspaper reports, these two Malay members of the Commission neither spoke nor asked questions during the year-long hearing, particularly to those witnesses who made wild statements against the interest of the Malays," he said. In his letter, Harris said Pairin is the only hope to correct these wild statements. "You have the authority to dig for the truth and we hope you will make full use of it to clear the air of uncertainty that lingers. "Without any corrections on the proof or otherwise, Sabahans will still believe that anything written or recorded by the Royal Commission on illegal immigrants are true and thus they will continue to harbour fears and uncertainties. "I share the faith of my fellow Sabahans that you will not let us down," he said.