Six months extension for RCI in Sabah
Yang Di-Pertaun Agong Tuanku Abdul Halim Mu’adzam Shah has granted an extension to the RCI on illegal immigrants in Sabah by six months from March 21 to September 20, 2013.
Commission Secretary Datuk Saripuddin Kasim in a statement said the extension was aimed at completing the investigations and compilation of reports according to Section 5 of the commission of Enquiry Act 1950 (Act 119).
The commission’s initial date of expiry is on March 20, 2013.
The hearing of the commission began on January 14, 2013 at the Kota Kinabalu High Court before a five-member panel headed by former Sabah and Sarawak Chief Justice, Tan Sri Steve Shim Lip Kiong.
The Federal Cabinet had decided on February 08, 2012 to establish a RCI. The Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib had only announced in August 2012 the details and terms of reference on the setting up of the RCI. PM Najib said that it would be given six months to complete its investigations on the influx of illegal immigrants in Sabah.
It has been reported that the terms of reference were being finalized at that time. A cabinet decision was usually based on a very comprehensive cabinet paper. For example, the draft cabinet paper is usually referred to the relevant government agencies including the Ministry of Finance for financial implications and the Attorney General Chambers for legal implications, etc.
Once a cabinet decision is made on it, it only remains to be implemented. Terms of reference should not arise. To decide on RCI without its terms of reference is like putting the cart before the horse. After Parliament and the Federal Cabinet decision on February 08, 2012, it took Najib six months to announce the details and terms of reference and an additional five months for the hearing to begin on January 14, 2013. So, it is now more than a year since Parliament and the Federal Cabinet had decided on the establishment of the RCI.
An extension of an additional six months will result to one year and seven months for the RCI panel to complete the investigation and compilation of reports. After decades of calls for the RCI into the illegal immigrants had been made in Parliament by members of the opposition and some Sabah BN MPs, it seems that further delays are imminent. An extension of an additional six months is too long because many of the key issues have already surfaced as reported in the mass media. By right, the findings should be made available to the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong before the 13th General Elections.
The last time a series of such public hearings was in 1962. The Cobbold Commission, which was appointed in January 1962, took five months to be completed and was submitted to the British Government on June 21, 1962. The final report was released on August 1, 1962. The Commission was chaired by the former Governor of the Bank of England, Lord Cameron Cobbold with a four member commission.
In contrast, and we don’t why it took Najib 6 months to announce the Members of the RCI and to come up with the terms of reference. And even the terms of reference may have been further delayed if not for the departure of two prominent BN members of Parliament from Sabah. It has been many months and how much more time will Sabahans and Malaysian need to wait before the final report of the RCI will be finalized, especially the incident of the Sulu terrorists attack in Lahad Datu.
For a Prime Minister who is overseeing a Government Transformation Program that is suppose to make the government more efficient and responsive, it is ironic that the Najib premiership appears to be more inefficient and incompetent compared to the government of 50 years ago in 1962 as demonstrated by the Cabbold Commission who were operating in a time without the convenience of modern technology and computers.
The people of Sabah are questioning the sincerity of the BN government on the short period given for the RCI from January 14 to March 20, 2013 to come up with the investigations and compilation of the reports. Initially, the BN government wanted to shorten the investigation and hearing period by the RCI, but now they have decided to grant them another 6 months, what is the logic behind the extension of time. As we can see it, Najib would want the result of the RCI to be presented after the PRU 13.
