Month: December 2014

The latest chapter in the host of merry-go-rounds created in the 40-year nightmare of illegal immigrants in Sabah is the establishment of the Working Committee on the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Illegal Immigrants in Sabah (RCIIIS) Report under the chairmanship of the Sabah Deputy Chief Minister and Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) President Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan to “peruse and study” the RCIIIS Report.

And true to form and substance as the latest merry-go-round, up to now, nearly 40 days after its first announcement by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak in mid-November when he visited Sabah, nobody knows whether the RCIIIS Report Working Committee has started to operate, as nobody could say whether Joseph Pairin has accepted the appointment as Chairman of the Working Committee.

The last public statement by Joseph Pairin was on Dec. 3, the day the RCIIIS Report was made public in Kota Kinabalu by the Chief Secrertary Tan Sri Hamsa Ali and the Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail.

Joseph Pairin complained that he had yet to receive his appointment letter although it was nearly three weeks since Najib’s announcement of the Working Committee and his appointment.

Since then, the Home Minister, Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who together with the Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman, is co-chair of the Permanent Committee of the RCIIIIS Report, had visited Sabah in mid-December and announced the five terms of reference of the Working Committee. Continue reading “Ultimate political humiliation for Joseph Pairin to accept RCIIIS Report Working Committee Chairmanship unless he has the political will and courage to come up with a report that the weight evidence of 211 RCIIIS witnesses and memorandum show there was ‘Project I/C’ involving political masterminds”

The Royal Commission of Inquiry into Illegal Immigrants in Sabah (RCIIIS) has gone full circle.

It was met with skepticism from the public when the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced the setting up of the RCI, taking seven long months from the Cabinet decision on 8th Feb. 2012 to set it up for the RCI to be appointed with its eight-point terms of reference.

But high hopes were raised that the RCIIIS would not be a “white-wash” when the RCI conducted its public hearings from January to September 2014, with explosive testimonies from some of the 211 witnesses, confirming long-held negative public perceptions that the influx of illegal immigrants in Sabah and the issue of hundreds of thousands of fake identity cards and voting rights particularly under “Project IC” was part of a political conspiracy to change the political demography in Sabah, reducing native Sabahans into strangers in their own land.

When the Report of the RCIIIS was finally made public on Dec. 3, after being put in the cold-storage for more than six months after submission to the Yang di Pertuan Agong on May 14, 2014, public disbelief, dismay and disquiet enveloped Sabahans – with “dashed hopes” and the return of even deeper skepticism. Continue reading “RCIIIS gone full circle – from skepticism of the public when announced, to high hopes raised during public hearings, to dashed hopes and back to even deeper skepticism after RCIIIS Report”

More than five weeks have passed since the announcement by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak that Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan will be Chairman of the Working Committee of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Illegal Immigrants in Sabah (RCIIIS) to make recommendations on the RCIIIS Report, and some three weeks have passed since the public release of the RCIIIS Report in Kota Kinabalu on Dec. 3.

But there is no sign of urgency or even a sense of responsibility on the part of Joseph Pairin as nobody knows whether the full Working Committee had been formed or whether Joseph Pairin had chaired the first meeting of the Working Committee. In fact, nobody knows whether he is going to accept the appointment as there had been contrary noises from his party leadership.

One would have thought such developments would be important news in Sabah but there has been total silence on the Joseph Pairin front.

Under the circumstances, Joseph Pairin should stop procrastinating but get cracking as RCIIIS Report Working Commtitee Chairman or declare that he will decline appointment as the Working Committee Chairman.

The first thing Joseph Pairin should do as Working Committee Chairman is to express the Working Committee’s disappointment and even censure of the RCIIIS Report for failing in its duty to come to any concrete or conclusive finding or recommendation on the basic issues about the four-decade long illegal immigrant nightmare in Sabah, whether about the existence of the ‘Project IC’, the number of illegal immigrants on Sabah’s electoral roll or the number of illegal immigrants in Sabah.

In fact, the RCIIIS was so irresponsible, remiss and negligent in carry out its duties that it had absolutely nothing to say about its eighth term of reference, viz: “ (h) to enquire into the number of immigrants in Sabah who were issued blue identification cards or citizenship by taking into consideration their status as stateless persons”.

The RCIIIS has absolutely nothing to say about its eighth term of reference. How more irresponsible could the RCIIIS be? Or has the RCIIIS completely forgotten about this term of reference? Continue reading “Joseph Pairin should stop procrastinating but get cracking as RCIIIS Report Working Committee Chairman or declare he will decline appointment”