Thursday, May 29, 2008

Truth sought on Project IC - The Star

KOTA KINABALU: May 29, 2008

In just six years from 2002, Sabah’s population grew a whopping 12% and a Parliamentary Select Committee on illegal immigrants is no substitute for a Royal Commission of Inquiry to address this issue, said Upko’s secretary-general Datuk Wilfred Madius Tangau.

“Upko’s call for a Royal Commission is actually to address a very specific issue and that is to determine the truth behind Project IC which is the mother of all illegal immigrants-related problems in Sabah.

“A Royal Commission of Inquiry is no longer an option but a necessity if the Government is serious about putting things right,” he said yesterday.

The Prime Minister’s Department in a written reply to a question from Sepangar MP Datuk Eric Majimbun had disclosed that between 2002 and 2008, Sabah’s population had jumped by 12% or 333,500, from 2.73 million to to 3.06 million people.

“One cannot help but attribute the extraordinary increase in the population of Sabah to the existence of the so-called Project IC. There is no other credible explanation,” he said.

He also asked why no action had been taken on police reports concerning Project IC.

The former Tuaran MP also called on the Government to investigate claims by former ISA detainee Hassnar Ibrahim who, during the Likas election petition trial, testified that he was directly involved in a government-sanctioned project to award identity cards to foreigners in Sabah to tip the demographic balance in the state.

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