While stressing the royal commission of inquiry’s (RCI) crucial role to stop the alleged impact of illegal immigration on Sabah’s electoral process and political landscape, PBS deputy president Maximus Johnity Ongkili said that it is up to Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak to decide if they should wait for it to conclude before declaring polls.

“The GE (general election) is entirely in the hands of the PM. He is the one that calls for it, when it is the appropriate time. We have about a year, less than a year to go, so we leave it entirely up to him,” he told reporters in Cheras last night.

NONE Speaking at a press conference after officially opening the Kaamatan-Gawai Dayak celebrations organised by the Asean Metropolitan University College, Ongkili ( right ), however, believed that the PM’s resolve in the matter is clear.

He recounted that Najib spoke of the RCI two months ago in answer to a query in the Dewan Negara and reinforced it via an official announcement three days ago in Kuching, though he admitted that after the initial Feb 8 announcement, the list of members has yet to be announced and neither has the attorney-general completed drafting the terms of reference.

As former head of the parliamentary select committee on electoral reforms, Ongkili said that he is proud that the PM and the government has taken up their call for the RCI to be formed despite complaints from other members of the select committee that Najib is taking his own sweet time doing so.

“Taking a long time to announce, it is not a big problem, the important thing is that it it is accepted.”

‘We are not interested in an ordinary RCI’

The important thing, argued Ongkili, is that political parties especially leaders from Sabah have been given the opportunity to give input to the terms of reference.

“As for the terms of reference, PBS has already impressed upon the PM that it must include illegal immigration issues in relation to the political landscape, like how they were entered into the electoral roll, let us look at all that, at its impact on business, on education, on citizenship, all these.”

NONE However, he reminded all parties that the 20-year struggle of Sabah political parties to bring the matter before the BN-led federal government’s eyes “is not yet done” until permanent solutions are found and implemented by the inquiry panel.

“We are not interested in an ordinary RCI, it comes home with an open verdict, you see. We here are going to have a special focus, because we want to find solutions. It is one thing to form the commission, it’s another thing to identify what are the solutions that we can implement to solve illegal immigration in Sabah and find solutions.”

Asked if the controversial ‘Project IC’, claims of illegal immigrants being given citizenship in exchange for votes in the East Malaysian states should be looked at by the RCI, Ongkili said it is up to the AG to decide if it will draft that into the terms of reference.

“We’ll have to wait for that one. Project IC is an allegation, it is up for the commission to investigate. We will see when the terms of reference (from the AG) come in,” concluded the Kota Marudu MP.

The matter of illegals who were issued citizenship being used to entrench peninsula-based parties in Sabah and Sarawak are allegations that have caused much consternation even amongst the BN components in the East Malaysian states.

But opposition brickbats on the matter were blunted by Pakatan de facto chief Anwar Ibrahim’s own alleged involvement in such ‘projects’ during his tenure as number two man to former PM Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Mahathir has denied knowledge of the matter, pinning everything on Anwar, while the Permatang Pauh MP did the same about-turn by saying that such chicanery were under Mahathir’s explicit instructions.