It has been three weeks since the royal commission of inquiry (RCI) was set up to probe Sabah's illegal immigrant problem, but “concerned Sabahans are still waiting for any signs of life that the RCI has started work”.

NONE In a press release today, DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang said this has further agitated Sabahans, who had waited six months for Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak to announce the members of the panel.

"And even the terms of reference may have been delayed further if not for the departure of two prominent BN members of Parliament from Sabah,” he said.

Allegations that Sabah's ‘population boom’ was the result of a state-sanctioned clandestine efforts to alter the demographics of the once Christian majority state had gained prominence in 2006.

At the time, Dr Chong Eng Leong, then a leader in Parti Bersatu Sabah, had made lengthy submissions on the subject to a parliamentary select committee on integrity.

It was based on his claims that the terms ‘Project Mahathir’, ‘Project M’ or ‘Project IC’ became widely known.

azlan Coincidently, it was Chong (left) who filed a petition in 1999 over the Likas by-election results which led to the Kota Kinabalu High Court nullifying the results because the electoral roll was tainted.

In view of this, then Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad amended the federal constitution to bar judicial scrutiny of the electoral roll.

Chong's submissions were eventually corroborated by other groups including the Human Rights Commission, but calls for a full blown inquiry were ignored until recently.

During the parliamentary select committee (PSC) hearings on electoral reform last November, Sabah BN component parties, except Umno , had recommended that a RCI be formed to probe the matter.

The recommendation was adopted in the PSC's interim report .

‘Inefficient, incompetent leadership’

Several Sabah BN component party leaders had told the press that cabinet had decided on the RCI in February, but Najib had held on to the announcement for six months.

wilfred bumburing lajim ukin 100612 Even then, the announcement was only made after Tuaran MP Wilfred Bumburing and Beaufort MP Lajim Ukin left BN .

Drawing comparisons with the Cobbold Commission, which had taken two and a half months to seek public feedback from the people of Sabah and Sarawak, Lim said Najib appears to be less efficient.

"It is ironic that the Najib premiership appears to be more inefficient and incompetent compared to the governance of 50 years ago in 1962 as demonstrated by the Cobbold Commission who were operating in a time without the convenience of modern technology," he said.

The Cobbold Commission, led by former Bank of England govenor Lord Cobbold, was tasked with determining whether the people of Sabah and Sarawak supported the proposal to form Malaysia.

Lim also challenged Najib to assure the people of Sabah that polls will not be called until the RCI has completed its investigation.