CONTEMPORARY MALAYSIA

con·tem·po·rar·y - Modern times in its generic sense, living, occurring, or existing, at the same time; often also used as a synonym for "modern" Ma·lay·sia - A country of southeast Asia consisting of the southern Malay Peninsula and the northern part of the island of Borneo.

Taken from Daily Express


Kota Kinabalu: Sabah MPs should consider supporting the planned DAP motion for the Royal Commission of Inquiry on Illegal Immigrants in the Parliament.

Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) Supreme Council member Dr Chong Eng Leong said that the recently-completed Royal Commission of Inquiry on the Judiciary, among others, had allegedly implicated former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad in the irregular appointment of judges.

"Since Project ICs issued to foreigners in Sabah was also referred to as Project Mahathir (refer to my 1999 Likas Election Petition trial, my papers to Parliamentary Select Committee on Integrity in 2006 and my papers to Suhakam Roundtable Discussion on Illegal Immigrants in 2006) may be a Royal Commission of Inquiry might also implicate Mahathir or vindicate him," he said.

Meanwhile, Dr Chong said a week after the last general election, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi admitted that "he had heard what the people wanted him to hear".

"He must have heard peninsula voices only because the near 100 per cent MP seats from Sabah and Sarawak given to BN did not receive rewards appropriately," he said.

"It seems our PM's only concern is peninsula. Look at our Sabahans repeated appeal and begging him to listen to our cry for help to solve our security cum sovereignty within Malaysia due to the huge number of illegal immigrants and project IC holders.

"The PM had personally heard me saying in 2001 in Dewan Maksak Likas that foreigners could get Malaysian ICs very easily. But nothing concrete has come out of this," he said.

Dr Chong said the promise in 2006 for a large scale operations like the Ops Nyah II to flush out paperless foreigners also did not happen.

He said the announcement for two more detention centres for illegal immigrants to be built in Sabah in 2006 remained mere words and it was again announced when the PM was in Sabah as if it was something new.

Dr Chong who is PBS Luyang chief said Abdullah had in October last year said, "We do not want to pretend and say that everything is okay. We do not want to be in a state of denial. Tell the truth, even if it is painful.

"But the PM did not practice what he preached. He did not want to hear the truth about Project IC or Project Mahathir in Sabah by the fact that the National Registration Department was directed not to answer the Parliamentary Select Committee on Integrity on questions regarding this project," he said.

He added that Sabah BN components had sent memoranda to the Prime Minister on this issue "but did he ever read them?"

"If not, did he assign somebody to read them and then be briefed on the contents of the memoranda? Sabah BN component besides Suhakam, NGOs and individuals had on umpteen times asked for Royal Commission of Inquiry on Illegal Immigrants but our PM brushed it aside," he said.

Instead, Dr Chong said the Prime Minister pushed the matter to the Federal Cabinet Committee on Illegal Immigrants headed by the Deputy Prime Minister of the day, a Committee formed in 2000 but so far only held one meeting.

The outcome of that meeting on May 2006 was to form a special court to handle cases involving illegal immigrants, he said.

"Did this also materialise?" he asked.

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