– The Malaysian Insider
January 17, 2013
JAN 17 – Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad today explained why citizenship was given to illegal immigrants in Sabah, an issue being investigated by a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI).
Dr Mahathir said the process was within the law as the immigrants had been in Sabah for decades and spoke Bahasa Melayu.
“When I was prime minister, I was in power to determine the implementation of government policies.
“The government received foreigners to be citizens if (they) fulfilled certain conditions, furthermore those who are there are not one, two days but already 20 to 30 years and they speak in Bahasa Melayu, have the right to be Malaysians,” he said at a press conference here.
“So the problem is when there are people who are tidak senang (unhappy) when there are some who become Malaysians although those individuals have already long resided in Malaysia, that is what causes problems.”
That defence is weak, especially when those who have testified at the RCI say they were ordered to issue citizenship and receipts for blue or citizen’s identity cards.
An official accused the late former deputy home affairs minister Tan Sri Megat Junid Megat Ayub of ordering the National Registration Department (NRD)’s Sabah branch to issue temporary documents to allow immigrants to vote in a 1994 state election.
But what is most shocking is the attempt to draw parallel between his government’s action and those of Malaysia’s founding prime minister, Al-Marhum Tunku Abdul Rahman Al-Haj. Continue reading “Getting Malaysian citizenship cheaply”