DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang today lambasted E2(M) national social extremist threat division chief assistant director Mohd Sofian Md Makinuddin for remarks undermining the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) slated to look into illegal immigration in Sabah.

NONE "Sofian told the press that the advocates of the RCI on illegal immigrants in Sabah are anti-national elements who only want to extract political capital from the issue, undermine diplomatic relations between Malaysia and the Philippines and incite anti-peninsula sentiments among Sabahans," Lim says in a blog posting today.

The officer's remarks on the RCI that has been endorsed and supported by the Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's cabinet, Lim, added, not only mocked the process but also "casts grave doubts" on the sincerity of the federal government in the matter.

"I do not think there is another cabinet decision in the 54-year history of the nation that has commanded lower public esteem, trust and credibility."

Lim said Najib should come clean on whether Sofian represented the official view of the government on the issue. If not, he should take immediate action to suspend and discipline Sofian for going against the announced government policy.

"Sofian has become the worst example of a 'national social extremist threat' his division in the Special Branch is supposed to be monitoring."

The cabinet in February this year succumbed to a decade of pressure from both sides of the parliamentary divide to form an RCI to address the long-standing problem of illegal immigrants in the East Malaysian state.