KOTA KINABALU, Nov 21 —DAP Sri Tanjung assemblyman Jimmy Wong has described as a waste of time and public funds the move by the Sabah government to set up a special committee to investigate allegations on his possession of the Sijil Anak Negeri (SAN) or Native Certificate.
He said the state government should instead focus on forming a special committee to resolve the perennial problem of tens of thousands of illegal immigrants in the state, particularly those who obtained the MyKad through dubious means.
Wong said that based on reports, some of the illegal immigrants who managed to obtain dubious MyKad had subsequently applied for native certificates.
“This (illegal immigrants) is the real or biggest problem in Sabah that warrants the setting up a special committee. But they purposely made me a scapegoat to shut up my mouth because I’m vocal in highlighting the people’s problems including protecting an open space near Sabindo in Tawau.
“I applied for this native certifcate through proper channel about 30 years ago and the Native court approved it... I never abused it. I was born and brought up in Sabah, and my grandmother was a sino-Kadazan. That’s why I applied for it,” he told reporters here today.
Wong was responding to the announcement by State Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Hajiji Mohd Noor in his winding up speech for his ministry at the state assembly on Thursday that the ministry would set up a special committee to investigate the allegation made by Sekong assembyman Datuk Samsuddin Yahya.
Apart from the issue of native certificate, Samsuddin also alleged that the DAP representative owned a resort in Semporna, as well as encroached onto government land when renovating his house.
Following this, Wong said he lodged a report at the Karamunsing police station here yesterday to enabl e the police to investigate whether his native certificate was false.
He claimed that the allegations were politically motivated and were aimed at divert the people’s attention from the numerous problems affecting the state, including illegal immigrants, electricity, water and corruption.
“They treat me worse than foreigners. I’m a Malaysian born in Sabah and I think this is an insult to the aspirations of the 1 Malaysia concept coined by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
“Questioning the identity of local born people is not good for national unity. In fact, I was made to understand that there are Sabah Barisan Nasional (BN) leaders, especially those at the divisional level, who originally came from neighbouring countries, and were brought up here after obtaining the MyKad, and this should be investigated,” he added.
Wong also challenged all the BN state assemblymen, including ministers and assistant ministers, to declare their assets to see whether their assets including their houses matched their accumulated allowances.
“They portray that they (BN elected representatives) are cleaner than me and it is only fair that they declare their assests for public scrutiny once and for all,” he said.
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