Independent investigations must be conducted into how illegal immigrants in Sabah were issued identity cards (ICs), said Parti Keadilian Rakyat (PKR) Sabah deputy chairperson Jeffrey Kitingan.

Contacted today, he said the situation can be resolved "if the government has the political will" to set up a Royal commission to enable this.

Kitingan attributed inaction to the "padding" of Sabah's electoral rolls with "new citizens" during the tenure of former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad. The secret scheme has been dubbed 'Project M'.

"The government does not want to dig up skeletons. This inability to deal with the past has kept the government quiet," he said, saying an independent commission could look into this aspect.

The veteran politician, the brother of former Sabah chief minister Joseph Pairin Kitingan, had told a press conference last weekend that as many as 600,000 illegal immigrants have been given identity cards (ICs) and voting rights in a bid to keep the government in power.

Sabah's foreign population, mainly Muslims from southern Philippines, is estimated at 1.75 million, against about 1.5 million locals. In some districts, foreigners are claimed to outnumber Malaysians by more than 70 percent.

"Many are already members of Barisan Nasional component parties, especially Umno. That means foreigners, not locals, will eventually elect leaders and the government," Kitingan was quoted as saying in the Sunday edition of Sabah's Daily Express .

"As party members they will one day become party leaders themselves, become elected representatives and be in the position of authority to determine policies and the laws of our beloved State. Sabah is now the state with the largest number of squatters in Malaysia."

He noted that the government has set up temporary detention centres, saying "these are supposed to be temporary, but have been there for more than 10 years".

"I am hopeful that the prime minister (Abdullah Ahmad Badawi) can put an end to this."

Information available

Kitingan also said several people have already come forward with information on the government's alleged involvement in issuing ICs to illegal immigrants.

He cited a 'confession' by Hasnal Ibrahim, a participant in Project M that was included in his recently published book 'Justice for Sabah'.

"Hasnal attended meetings in Kuala Lumpur that were chaired by the deputy home minister (Megat Junid Megat Ayub) himself. The meetings were even attended by the chief secretary to the government (Ahmad Sarji Abdul Hamid) who did not agree to the project," he claimed.

In June, Parti Bersatu Sabah supreme council member and ex-senator Dr Chong Eng Leong, in a submission to the Parliamentary Select Committee on Integrity had alluded to Project M, saying ICs had been issued based on falsified statutory declarations.

He further claimed that one-third of voters allegedly born in Sabah between 1952 and 1960 - about 50,000 - were foreigners with such ICs.

Kitingan said that if the plan was to swing votes to the ruling government, then it had been achieved.

"They (the government) have succeeded. They imported professional voters to marginal areas in the last few elections," he said.

Although the problem has not reached the point of no return, he said there was not much time left.

"The situation is close to a critical level. If not handled properly, the process of a political takeover could occur soon. This is like a political Trojan horse," he said.

"With such (a large) number of foreigners (in Sabah), the Philippines, which has yet to retract its claim to Sabah, could use this as leverage."

He said there is a need to call up those with information, including illegal immigrants themselves.

"I know these things exist. When I reported my lost IC to a registration office in Sabah, an officer took me to a corner and showed me a thick book of foreign voters. He told me the foreigners were processed through the system and that this was only the tip of the iceberg," he said.

"This is not the Malaysia that we want, this is not the Malaysia that we Sabahans have come to expect. Where is the security that was promised? Where is the independence and democracy that was promised?"