If the government can form a RCI to probe citizenships given to about 200,000 Sabah immigrants, why not on those pre-independence immigrants? asks the former PM
PERMATANG PAUH: Former Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamed cynically suggested the federal government form a royal commission of inquiry to probe if the one million “foreigners”, who were given citizenship during independence, were entitled to it.
He suggested for the commission to probe ancestral backgrounds of the “foreigners” to determine on whether they deserved their citizenship.
If the government can form a commission to probe the citizenship given to some 200,000 Sabah immigrants, he asked on “why not on those pre-independence immigrants?”
He told this at a crowded hall when officiating a Perkasa convention on “Penang Malays Economic and Education Transformation” in UiTM campus here today.
Nonetheless he said he was not seriously demanding for such commission, but only wanted certain amount of fair play in such inquiries.
“I’m not serious about it. But they must be fair,” the country’s fourth premier told a press conference later.
Dr Mahathir seemed clearly frustrated by mounting criticisms against him over allegations of a citizenship-for-votes scheme in Sabah that occurred in the 1990s during his premiership.
He said Sabah’s illegal immigrants deserved their citizenships given that the law allowed for it if a person had stayed in the country for more than 10 years.
“It was a co-incidence that they were given citizenship during election time,” Mahathir told newsmen.
Earlier in his keynote address, he said pre-independence immigrants should be grateful to the Malays for their citizenships, given by first Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman.
Unlike natives of Myanmar and some African nations, he said the Malaya natives, both pribumis and bumis, did not chase out the immigrants when then Malaya got its independence from the British colonial masters.
Ungrateful immigrants out to rid Malay privileges
He said the Malays generously allowed the immigrants to be citizens, speak their languages and practise their respective cultures, something that even neighbouring Thai and Indonesian natives failed to do.
Although Malays constituted 80% of Malaya’s voting population during independence time, he claimed that they willingly shared power with the immigrants even though it would reduce their vote bank to 60% and weaken their own political strength.
“We allowed the immigrants to flourish among us and let them even to dominate the economy. We also did not stop their language and cultural growth,” said Mahathir.
However, instead of being grateful to Malay kindness, he lamented that the immigrants were now plotting to remove the Malay privileges.
Political power aside, he said the Malays only wanted 30% of the economic share, while others still have 70%.
“But they even want to seize Malay political power now,” cautioned Mahathir.
He hinted that this was a possibility due to Malay disunity caused by PAS and a certain power crazed Malay leader from Permatang Pauh (Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim).
Claiming that Malays were once strongly united under a single Umno umbrella, he blamed both for causing the Malays to split to three and weakening their political strength.
He called on voters not to be emotional, but to be wise in choosing the right government in the next general election.
He added that those who can’t use the brain to think wisely were equivalent to animals. “Malays must back Umno and Barisan Nasional to strengthen their political position.
“If you choose wrongly, you will face dire consequences,” he warned.
PERMATANG PAUH: Former Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamed cynically suggested the federal government form a royal commission of inquiry to probe if the one million “foreigners”, who were given citizenship during independence, were entitled to it.He suggested for the commission to probe ancestral backgrounds of the “foreigners” to determine on whether they deserved their citizenship.
If the government can form a commission to probe the citizenship given to some 200,000 Sabah immigrants, he asked on “why not on those pre-independence immigrants?”
He told this at a crowded hall when officiating a Perkasa convention on “Penang Malays Economic and Education Transformation” in UiTM campus here today.
Nonetheless he said he was not seriously demanding for such commission, but only wanted certain amount of fair play in such inquiries.
“I’m not serious about it. But they must be fair,” the country’s fourth premier told a press conference later.
Dr Mahathir seemed clearly frustrated by mounting criticisms against him over allegations of a citizenship-for-votes scheme in Sabah that occurred in the 1990s during his premiership.
He said Sabah’s illegal immigrants deserved their citizenships given that the law allowed for it if a person had stayed in the country for more than 10 years.
“It was a co-incidence that they were given citizenship during election time,” Mahathir told newsmen.
Earlier in his keynote address, he said pre-independence immigrants should be grateful to the Malays for their citizenships, given by first Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman.
Unlike natives of Myanmar and some African nations, he said the Malaya natives, both pribumis and bumis, did not chase out the immigrants when then Malaya got its independence from the British colonial masters.Ungrateful immigrants out to rid Malay privileges
He said the Malays generously allowed the immigrants to be citizens, speak their languages and practise their respective cultures, something that even neighbouring Thai and Indonesian natives failed to do.
Although Malays constituted 80% of Malaya’s voting population during independence time, he claimed that they willingly shared power with the immigrants even though it would reduce their vote bank to 60% and weaken their own political strength.
“We allowed the immigrants to flourish among us and let them even to dominate the economy. We also did not stop their language and cultural growth,” said Mahathir.
However, instead of being grateful to Malay kindness, he lamented that the immigrants were now plotting to remove the Malay privileges.
Political power aside, he said the Malays only wanted 30% of the economic share, while others still have 70%.
“But they even want to seize Malay political power now,” cautioned Mahathir.
He hinted that this was a possibility due to Malay disunity caused by PAS and a certain power crazed Malay leader from Permatang Pauh (Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim).Claiming that Malays were once strongly united under a single Umno umbrella, he blamed both for causing the Malays to split to three and weakening their political strength.
He called on voters not to be emotional, but to be wise in choosing the right government in the next general election.
He added that those who can’t use the brain to think wisely were equivalent to animals. “Malays must back Umno and Barisan Nasional to strengthen their political position.
“If you choose wrongly, you will face dire consequences,” he warned.
14 comments:
The latest statement by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohammad to clear himself of any wrong doing in the clandestine IC scam under probe by the RCI shows him to be arrogant, unrepentant and an unscrupulous manipulator of history.
Dr Mahathir’s attempt to drag the first prime minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman, into the mud is despicable and cowardly.
He is trying to pull wool over the eyes of the rakyat by equating the IC scam conducted shadily under his watch as prime minister with the granting of citizenship in peninsula Malaysia during the Tunku’s time.
He continues to insult our intelligence by assuming that the people are unable to differentiate between a shady operation shrouded in secrecy which is criminal and one that was done in accordance with a collective decision during the formative period of our history of independence.
In any event, the latter is not the subject of inquiry whereas the IC project is. So, Dr. Mahathir must stop throwing red herrings in the path just to distract us from the key issue.
The clandestine project took place just two weeks before the 1994 state election and Dr Mahathir must stop pretending he cannot see the link between that and the obvious conclusion that it was therefore a citizenship-for-votes scheme.
I maintain it is shocking to learn that the perpetrators in the scam stayed at the house of Aziz Shamsuddin and used it as the operations centre to issue the fake ICs. Equally shocking is the testimony that Megat Junid Megat Ayub had instructed NRD senior officers to issue the IC receipts.
Aziz Shamsuddin and Megat Junid could not have embarked on a scam of such a magnitude without the clearance of the man they would have to report to at that time and that would be none other than Dr. Mahathir.
I maintain my call that Dr Mahathir must be investigated for the act of treason to the people and to the nation for selling out our sovereignty in sanctioning this nefarious scheme just to ensure that UMNO-BN controls Sabah.
Hope that Dr M will get the consequences from his own actions.
isu immimgrant ini harus diselesaikan
RCI was described as a sincere effort by the ruling coalition to find a lasting solution to problems related to illegal immigrants in Sabah.
Sabah Gerakan chief Datuk Gordon Leong said it took a lot of courage for Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to agree to the formation of the RCI and it showed that hewanted to get to the bottom of the issue.
He said if opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had information relating to the problem, he should testify. Calls had been made for Anwar to testify and he had agreed to do so but claimed he did not have any knowledge about the government issuing documents to immigrants in the 1990s.
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