Heinous acts in Sabah should be punished for TREASON!

Dr M’s distasteful politics of distraction

Umno and BN must sacrifice Mahathir without any hesitation whatsoever if they want to truly redeem themselves in the eyes of the people.

Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, 86, has so far escaped too much public scrutiny on his controversial 22 years in power. There’s a perfectly logical reason for this. His politics of distraction, especially via his pet poodles like Perkasa, Pembela and Utusan Malaysia, has kept the pot forever on the boil, and the people engaged in polemics or debating the non-issues continue to hog the public space.



One “gem” from Mahathir in recent days is that perhaps people will only believe him on Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim “if they see him (Anwar) doing it”. Mahathir loves and thrives on being hated and vilified all around.

Clearly, “doing it” is a crude reference to Anwar’s allegedly deviant sex life which appears to have pre-occupied the self-confessed prudish Mahathir so much since 1998 when he ruthlessly sacked his former deputy prime minister and heir apparent and had him incarcerated in order to get his hands on public funds to save his cronies from bankruptcy.

One’s sex life, according to the “Victorian morals” of Mahathir who left behind a legacy of embedded corruption and political murders, should suffice as the sole yardstick on being morally fit or otherwise in the eyes of the public.

Enough is enough.


The ruling Umno and Barisan Nasional (BN) must eschew the politics of distraction and sacrifice Mahathir without any hesitation whatsoever if they want to truly redeem themselves in the eyes of the people and thereby at least drag out their last days in power.

The choice is for them to make. It’s between being consigned to the dustbins of history in the short term – for the cardinal sin of “pledging” to swim or sink with Mahathir – and slowing down the process of their increasing irrelevance by distancing themselves from him, clearly the undisputed arch villain of Malaysian politics.

Now, a golden opportunity of sorts has presented itself with Anwar’s disclosure over the weekend that he had heard that Mahathir, and former home minister Megat Junid Megat Ayob, were involved in a covert operation in Sabah to issue citizenships to illegal immigrants in exchange for their votes. This calls for any number of police reports against Mahathir, the home minister, the secretary-general of the home ministry, the director-general of the National Registration Department and the head of the Election Commission (EC).

Open secret


Illegal immigrants having MyKads is an open secret in Sabah. Most of them are twice-born, that is, once in their home countries and the second time in Sabah – and only possible in this state – as evident from their local birth certificates based on statutory declarations.

The case of Pakistani carpet-trader Salman Majid, 49, which went to court in Kuala Lumpur is a case in point. He was released from custody and escaped a deportation order in late 2009 after former Sabah chief minister Harris Salleh testified on his behalf and declared that he had always been a loyal voter for the BN in Sabah. The court then promptly declared him a “Malaysian”.

Still, Umno has so far resisted calls by Sabahans for a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on the issuance of MyKads to illegal immigrants in the state. A RCI will settle the question, once and for all, of whether Mahathir and Megat Junid indeed committed treason in Sabah as alleged and therefore should go down in history as traitors.

But what is new is that the latest disclosure on the “federal government-promoted MyKad scams” in Sabah came from Anwar himself. The de facto PKR leader had previously avoided the subject altogether just like Mahathir who makes no mention of it at all in his recently released self-serving voluminous memoirs. No doubt, he wants to carry the secret with him to the grave.

Anwar has had no choice but to come forward this time amidst fears that the BN is engaged in a Sabah-type “citizenship for votes’ operation in the four Pakatan Rakyat-ruled states, borderline Perak and other states like Negri Sembilan, Malacca and Terengganu which are all in “grave and imminent danger” of falling to the opposition alliance. This must explain why Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak thundered recently that “Putrajaya must be defended at all costs” and that the BN must win the coming general election by hook or by crook.

His earlier approach for “winning” elections was “I want to make a deal. You (the voter) do something for me – vote for me – and I will do something (give money) for you”.

Anwar was kept completely out from the operation in Sabah, according to the man himself. He was denying that he was involved in the heinous acts in Sabah as Umno deputy president.

Anwar claimed that he had very little power even as the number two and heir apparent before he became a fallen angel in 1988 in the wake of the mid-1987 Asian financial crisis when Umno leaders turned on each other bitterly amidst the spectre of their various “business” ventures risking bankruptcy.

There has always been more than a little suspicion in Sabah about Anwar, especially on the issuance of MyKads to illegal immigrants and their placement on the electoral rolls. It’s unlikely that washing his hands on the matter and pointing in the direction of Mahathir and Megat Junid will persuade Sabahans to give Anwar the benefit of the doubt. He was not merely an onlooker in the corridors of power but was in the inner circle itself and cannot get away by trotting out a tame “I heard” line on Sabah.

Be more forthcoming

Anwar needs to be more forthcoming and tell all that he knows on Mahathir’s attempts to marginalise and disenfranchise the Sabahans, especially the Dusuns, in their own country. This would save his political alliance from being victims of his karma in Sabah.

Putrajaya’s continuing attempts to steal Sabah from its people and hand it over to any number of illegal immigrants from the Philippines, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Pakistan is no doubt without any parallel in world history. There’s always a first time. Of Sabah’s 3.2 million population in 2005, only 1.5 million are locals while the rest, foreigners, are mostly illegal immigrants.

If Anwar doesn’t want to open up on Sabah, fearing that he would be implicated as well, he should keep away from the state as he was once advised by former PKR vice-president Jeffrey Kitingan.

The Sabahan man for all seasons was expressing his disappointment that while Mahathir took Anwar out of Umno, no one has ever been able to take the Umno – read ketuanan Melayu (Malay supremacy) – out of him. Anwar continues to swear by the vile, racist ketuanan Melayu mindset while paying lip service to ketuanan rakyat (people power) or Hindraf’s Makkal Sakthi.

It may be unthinkable for now but it has happened elsewhere in the world. Consider Augusto Pinochet in Chile and Hosni Mubarak in Egypt, among others. No one, in their time, could be as powerful as these two men. Yet, they ultimately bit the dust and were eventually brought to trial at home for various crimes against their people.

Likewise, Mahathir’s turn to count the bars will come and soon if the people in Sabah, for one, diligently pursue him to account for various acts of transgression and abuse of power in the state during his long innings in power in Putrajaya. Mahathir must not only be locked up, the keys must be thrown away in his case.

Mahathir cannot and must not be allowed to get away scot-free. Others need to be deterred from acting similarly with impunity while in public office. It will be poetic justice indeed if Sabahans chalk up a historical first by proving that Mahathir committed treason in the state and should therefore be rightly labelled a traitor. It’s unfortunate that Megat Junid died so young as dead men tell no tales.

By Joe Fernandez

Anwar claimed Project IC highly covert operation

Project IC: Anwar says he was kept out of the loop

Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim conceded that he had some knowledge of the citizen-for-votes operation in Sabah, allegedly spearheaded by Umno in the early 1990s when he was the party's deputy president.

However, he said that whatever information he received were from "secondary sources" as he was kept out of loop in the highly covert operation popularly known as Project IC or Project M.

"It was a special operation under the Prime Minister's Office and the Home Ministry at that time directly under Mahathir (Mohamad) and Megat Junid (Megat Ayub).

"There was a system (in which it was) operated, and the sum (of funds or people involved) was never referred to the cabinet, or Umno supreme council or the political bureau.

"To be fair, I certainly knew from some secondary sources, (but) clearly it was a very secretive operation," said the PKR de facto leader in an exclusive interview with Malaysiakini on Thursday.

Anwar has been accused of having a hand in the operation as he was instrumental to bringing the Malay-base party to Sabah in 1991.

Mahathir has denied any involvement, while the outcome of a 1997 parliamentary select committee which heard the testimonies of civil servants detained under the Internal Security Act was never made public.

The project hogged the spotlight recently with fresh allegations of similar attempts by Umno to naturalise immigrants to bolster support in the next general election.

Earlier this month, the Hulu Selangor Umno division was accused of writing to the Home Ministry seeking citizenship for some 2,000 people while a police report was lodged over a similar case in Sepang.

Hulu Selangor Umno chief Mohamed Idris Abu Bakar, however, claimed that the letter was forged.

Round 2 of Project IC could be worse 

Nevertheless, Anwar claimed that the new revelations raise concern of a nationwide operation, particularly in Pakatan Rakyat-held states.

He also believes that the second coming of the Project IC, this time in the peninsula, is likely to be worse.
"I don't believe that (what happened in Sabah) was like what is happening now. I have never heard Umno machinery or party apparatus being used like this and I can be challenged on that," he said.

In the Sabah case, village heads were prosecuted for producing false statutory declarations to illegal immigrants as proof of birth to allow them to obtain identity cards.

According to Anwar, despite being a "powerful deputy president", he was never involved in the financial matters of Umno and that he was not a signatory to a single cheque issued by the party.

He said the party finances were all under the direct control of then treasurer Daim Zainuddin and Umno boss Mahathir.

Yet, he estimates that the Sabah operation cost "hundreds of millions of ringgit" and that the nationwide endeavour would mean several hundreds more.

"You mean to say that Umno volunteers are doing this? No, huge corporations (are involved)," he claimed.

While the matter is serious, and should be investigated, the Permatang Pauh MP doubts that it will be dealt with, considering the likely involvement of the Home Ministry.

"This time there is a police report lodged so there must be investigations, but how do you investigate if the police or the Home Ministry is involved?

"(Home Minister) Hishammuddin (Hussein) was being very dismissive (when he should be) saying that we have to study this serious matter, a very serious allegation. (He said) nothing (of that sort)," said Anwar.

Aidila Razak (Malaysiakini source)

Chong on Projek IC Mahathir

Statutory declaration way to gain an IC in Sabah!
Just how did the National Registration Department (NRD) give identity cards to foreigners in Sabah?

According to a general surgeon and an anti-illegal immigration specialist Dr Chong Eng Leong (right), some of the ketua kampung (village headman) would issue false statutory declarations to foreigners for the NRD to issue ICs to them under Project IC.

“The headman in the statutory declaration would claim that this person comes from his village and then the NRD would issue the identity cards to them. This has been going on since the mid-1980s,” he said, where they would be given the old blue identity cards.

“These people would not have particulars about their birth at the back of the blue identity card. I estimate there are an estimated 600,000 foreigners who have obtained identity cards in Sabah since 2005 and are living there as citizens,” he revealed.

Chong claimed that the 600,000 may already have had children here, and he has met some second generation children who are in their 40s.

Such revelations are also contained in his book, Lest we forget (Security and sovereignty in Sabah), and another book written by Mutalib MD titled IC palsu merampas hak anak Sabah (False ICs infringe on the rights of Sabahans).

Chong revealed that some of the headmen had refused to issue the false statutory declarations while others were willing to do so, and this had affected Sabah's sovereignty following the influx of illegal immigrants getting citizenship in Sabah over the past few decades.

He said one of the village headmen who issued these false statutory declarations, Hasnnar Ebrahim, had been detained under the Internal Security Act in the late 1980s.

Yesterday, Chong, a former Parti Bersatu Sabah leader, revealed that the Sabah experience may expand to Pakatan Rakyat-held states to help the BN and Umno wrest control of the four states which are now under opposition rule.

He revealed that in 1986, the then-deputy home minister, the late Megat Junid Megat Ayob, and chief secretary of the government Ahmad Sarji Abdul Hamid, spearheaded 'Project IC'.

Questionable exponential rise

Chong, who is now with PKR, said his research found that the exponential rise of certain population groups in Sabah raises concern about his allegation of the rising number of illegal immigrants getting ICs.

“In the 1960s the total population of Sabah was 454,421 comprising of total bumiputeras 309,833, Kadazan Dusun and Murut 167,993, Bajau and Irranun to be 61,838. However, there were no numbers for Malays.

“In 2000, the population increased by 301 percent or 2.6 million. However, what is surprising is that the number of Malays had risen from nothing to 303,500 or a rise of 1,552 percent. These so-called Malays do not come from peninsular Malaysia but are believed to be the illegal immigrants given the ICs. Why has the Kadazan Dusun Murut risen by 162 percent but Malays rose by 1,552 percent?” he asked.

He further queried who are these new bumiputras in Sabah?

“Given the overall rise of Sabah population by 300 percent, the statistics on the Malays do not truly reflect the overall population if one were to compare the other groups.

“In Ops Nyah Bersepadu the federal and state governments maintained there were only 100,000 foreign illegal immigrants, but by November that year they deported 232,511. Most of them came back with different names and they came back bringing new ones,” he said.

The questionable rise in the population group, Chong said, gives credence to allegations of the existence of Project IC.

The general surgeon said based on his decade-old research, the dubious ICs would bear the numbers between H0288001 and H384000, as well as between H480001 and H576000.

“There are also other numbers but these are the common numbers I find in my research. I also find that some of them have new MyKads with the number 12 (denoting from Sabah),” he said.

Illegals registered as voters

Chong said based on his research and in his paperwork which he presented during Sabah PKR's forum on land issues, policy and challenges in Sabah in March, he found that genuine Sabah citizens who are registered voters account for 73 percent of the population.

“Of these foreigners who are given ICs, 53 percent of them are registered with the Election Commission. I based this painstaking research on days of toiling with the EC to get the data on the registered voters and voting patterns between 1999 and 2004,” he said.

He claimed that some of those who were given ICs joined Umno, with orders to vote in certain electoral districts for BN and Umno.

Chong, who had contested for the Likas state seat under the PBS ticket in 1999, had challenged the results by filing an election petition.

“I was contesting against former chief minister Yong Teck Lee, where I lost. However, I filed an election petition, and the judge in 2001 ruled the election result as null and void, and declared the win was “with the help of phantom voters.”

He also pointed out that the case of alleged Pakistani carpet seller Salman Majid, who won a Kuala Lumpur court case in 2009 against his deportation, has set a dangerous precedent.

Chong said in the Likas case, Salman had admitted in court that he was not resident in Malaysia for 23 years of his life.

“The question that should have been raised then is which school or schools Salman attended in Malaysia if he was indeed born in Ranau, Sabah as he claims,” he asked.

Chong pointed out many of these illegals do not have birth certificates nor proof to verify their birth details, but were still issued ICs. He said if one were to look for documentation it would be based on the false statutory declarations that were issued.

The general surgeon said most of the illegal immigrants given ICs have caused social problems in Sabah, including thefts, and they are also affecting Sabah's hospitals which are supposed to cater for genuine Sabahans.

“What is upsetting is that in countries like the United States, Australia, Canada, Great Britain and Singapore, they are selectively giving out citizenship to those who contribute to society. Sadly, in the case of Sabah, they are giving it for the purpose of clinging to power,” he warned.

Chong said he stood by his findings and research which he had highlighted in his book which was published in 2009, and no one has taken action on him on whether what he had presented was false.

By Hafiz Yatim (Malaysiakini)

Anwar not involved in Project IC?

PKR central committee member Khalid Jaafar says PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim was never involved in the Sabah identity card fiasco in the time he was in government.



Khalid, then an aide to Anwar, said: "Although Anwar has held various positions in the cabinet, he was never the home minister.

"Anwar was youth and sports minister, education minister, finance minister and deputy prime minister," said Khalid (left), who is also Hulu Selangor PKR information chief.

"I can (state) that Anwar was never involved in this matter (issuing ICs to non-citizens) in Sabah."

In the cabinet, Khalid said, one cannot infringe on another minister's portfolio.

Megat Junid, he said was the de facto Home Minister (as Dr Mahathir Mohamad was the Home Minister).

“Anwar has never been appointed as acting Deputy Home Minister or acting Home Minister before,” he said.

He said this when Sabah general surgeon Dr Chong Eng Leong was asked today if Anwar had been involved in the issuance of ICs to non-citizens in Sabah.

This was part of an operation called 'Project IC', which Chong has dubbed as "Project M" in reference to the former premier.

Chong, who was a PBS member but is now in PKR, said this when declaring that Umno was responsible in giving out ICs to foreigners who he estimated numbered 600,000 in 2005.

Chong, when asked this question, said he could not answer it and that such questions should be posed to Anwar himself.

Lifted from Malaysiakini

World Bank useless, its report politically-motivated?

Former Prime Minister and dubbed a racist, senile Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad described the World Bank as “useless”, saying today that it was politically motivated for putting out a report that pro-Bumiputera policies are stunting the country’s economy.

The former prime minister said the World Bank report was politically motivated as it wanted a change of prime minister, seemingly referring to Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, a former chairman of its development committee.

“We have been critical of the World Bank since my time. We said that they were useless.

“They dislike us and want to have their good friend become prime minister,” Dr Mahathir (picture) told reporters today.

The World Bank said on Thursday that more than one million Malaysians live abroad as policies favouring the Malays are holding back the economy, causing a brain drain and limiting foreign investment.

World Bank senior economist Philip Schellekens was quoted as saying that foreign investment could be five times the current levels if the country had Singapore’s talent base.

He said Malaysian migration was increasingly becoming a skills migration with one-third of the one million-strong Malaysian diaspora now consisting of the tertiary educated and expected the trend to continue.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has pledged to roll back the country’s pro-Malay policies from the New Economic Policy (NEP) but also told the Umno assembly last year that the government’s social contract of providing benefits to Bumiputeras cannot be repealed.

According to the Bloomberg report, Najib has eased some rules to woo funds, including scrapping a requirement that foreign companies investing in Malaysia and locally listed businesses set aside 30 per cent of their Malaysian equity for indigenous investors.

Last year, he unveiled an economic transformation programme under which the government identified US$444 billion (RM1.3 trillion) of projects from mass rail transit to nuclear power that it would promote in the current decade.

However, Dr Mahathir said today that while it liberalised the economy, the government should “be fair to the poor and make sure that they have opportunities as well.”

By Shannon Teoh