SAPP: Stop the "RCI melodrama"

KOTA KINABALU, Nov 12: Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) has called on the various State Barisan Nasional component parties' leaders to stop insulting the intelligence of Sabah people, for calling for the formation of the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on illegal immigrants and citizenship given to the latter through dubious means.

Its Information Chief Chong Pit Fah said if they are really sincere in their calls, they should then waste no time to enlist their MPs to jointly move a motion in the Parliament, to call for its formation.

"Anything less would be an insult to the people of Sabah, because we in Sabah know what you fellows (Sabah BN leaders) are actually up to since the 13th general election is just around the corner," he said.

He was commenting on the antics of MCA Penampang division which recently joined in the chorus of the various State BN leaders in calling for the RCI to be set up. The said call recently cropped up again, interestingly, from none other than the President of Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan, after officiating at the party’s Wanita and Youth delegates conference in conjunction with its 26th Annual Congress held at the Kadazandusun Cultural Association (KDCA) near here, late last month.

In line with this, Chong who is also SAPP Kepayan CLC chief challenged Sabah MCA leaders to demand for its central leadership to get its MPs to move a motion in the Parliament to call for the formation of the RCI on illegal immigrants.

The various Sabah MCA leaders should especially demand for their MP for Kampar cum Deputy Home Minister Datuk Lee Chee Liong who had earlier dismissed the existence of Project IC when he came to Sabah recently, to move such a motion in the Parliament to prove their sincerity and seriousness in wanting to resolve the illegal immigrants and dubious citizens issues," said Chong.

He added that both Penampang division and its Sabah State Liaison Committee also demand for Lee to publicly apologise to the people of Sabah, for his insulting remarks over the said issue which had been plaguing the state and its people for the last three decades.

Chong maintained that the recent calls by the various BN leaders, led by Pairin, calling for the formation of the RCI on illegal immigrants and dubious citizens in the State were merely a ‘melodrama’ to fish for votes, besides a gimmick to pave way for the "dirtiest election fraud ever" in the coming general election.

"Every thinking Malaysian in Sabah knows what it means when one talks about the ‘fixed deposit’, and that the Barisan Nasional, UMNO in particular, will never want to have a RCI on illegal immigrants and dubious citizens established, so as to keep their ‘fixed deposit’ and to remain in power perpetually," he said.

Nonetheless, he was convinced that electorates in the state are wise enough not to be easily duped by such a cheap melodrama, and to vote wisely when the time comes.

He also reminded that SAPP was the earliest to call for the setting up of the RCI to investigate all issues relating to the illegal immigrants from the Project IC that was to grant citizenship to foreigners through dubious means, which many believed to have contributed to the sudden and extraordinary population boom in Sabah.

"Our SAPP Youth wing has conducted a signature campaign drive to collect 100,000 signatures from the people in Sabah as a petition urging the Federal Government to set up the RCI.

"It was submitted to the Federal Government but sadly nothing has come out of it," he said.