Mahathir should speak up about the serious allegation about “Project Mahathir False ICs” in Sabah which has resulted in foreigners exceeding Sabahans in the state  population

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Press Statement
by Lim Kit Siang  
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(Kota Kinabalu, Friday) :Former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad should speak up about the serious allegation about “Project Mahathir False ICs” in Sabah which has resulted in foreigners exceeding Sabahans in the state population.

As reported in the local Sabah press today, former Senator Dr. Chong Eng Leong in his submission to the Parliamentary Select Committee on integrity at the Sabah State Assembly yesterday, alleged that the extraordinary population increase in Sabah was caused by the deliberate issuance of Malaysian ICs to foreigners based on false Statutory Declarations under “Project IC” or “Project Mahathir”.

As a result, there are today around 1.75 million foreigners in Sabah, including those in possession of the Project Mahathir ICs, as compared to 1.5 million genuine locals in Sabah.

Dr. Chong said he was talking about hundreds of thousands of false ICs already in the hands of foreigners who are proclaiming themselves not only Malaysians but Bumiputras having all the privileges and rights of  Customary Native Rights in Sabah.

He disclosed that in the 1999 certified electoral rolls, through the new IC numbers, it was revealed that there were 150,000 Sabah-born registered voters who were born in 1952 through 1960 but according to the Sabah Statistics Department, the State’s population in 1951 was 334,141 and in 1960, 454,421, an increase of 120,000.

He estimated that with 80 per cent registered as voters, there would only be about 100,000 Sabah-born voters for this period – which would mean that  about one-third of voters allegedly born in Sabah in 1952-1960 were foreigners with ICs issued fraudulently with the use of falsified Sijil Akuan under the Project Mahathir False I/Cs.

These are very serious allegations which Mahathir cannot allow to stand in the public domain uncontradicted or unclarified. Alternatively, Mahathir should ask for an appearance before the Parliamentary Select Committee on Integrity to give his version of the Project Mahathir False ICs as alleged by Dr. Chong.

(16/06/2006)