Electoral reform group Bersih has demanded that the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) report on illegal immigrants in Sabah be tabled in Parliament by next week.

Calling the delay a "red herring", the Bersih steering committee said the announcement by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak to make public the RCI report early next month is merely to subvert pressure on his original assurances.

"Bersih is outraged that the RCI on illegal immigrants in Sabah will not be tabled in this Parliament session despite earlier reports quoting two ministers that it will be done so."

The committee said it is not convinced with Najib's last-minute assurance seeing as there is scant details about how it will be done.

This is also not the first time calls have been made to Putrajaya to have the RCI report published and tabled in Parliament and neither is this the first time the government promised to do so.

According to DAP's Sandakan MP Stephen Wong, Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Minister Abdul Rahman Dahalan assured on Oct 6 that it will be tabled in Parliament.

"Najib and his cabinet must explain why our elected representatives are not being allowed to perform their duty in debating and discussing this important report," the steering committee said.

Despite the government's repeated promises, Putrajaya has now fixed the release of the report after the Parliament sitting.

No more delays

However, Bersih's steering committee brushed aside the assurance and demanded that the report be tabled even if it meant extending the Dewan Rakyat meeting.

"We will not accept any more delays since this issue had been awaiting resolution as far back as the Likas petition in 1999," they added.

The RCI was set up in August 2012, with a six-member panel to investigate allegations of a citizenship-for-votes scheme in Sabah called " Project IC " in the 1980s.

Chaired by former judge of Sabah and Sarawak Steve Shim, the RCI had "given hope" to Malaysians, especially Sabahans that they will finally find out the truth about the covert operations by senior government officials illegally granting citizenship to immigrants in exchange for votes.

Don't blame the immigrants

Bersih stressed that the immigrants are not to be blamed as they were victims of the system.

"Any anger over their involvement must be directed at the authorities who exploited these vulnerable groups to enable the ruling party to stay in power," they added.

As such, Bersih also demanded to have a revamp of the Sabah electoral roll, involving the de-registration of those who fraudulently obtained IC, as well as no delineation as long as dubious voters remain.

"Those who gave the orders to illegally register migrants for personal or political gains must be brought to justice. All this hinges on the immediate tabling of the report," the committee said.

Other members of the RCI includes Universiti Malaysia Sabah former vice-chancellor Prof Dr Kamaruzaman Ampon, Kuala Lumpur ex-police chief Henry Chin Poy Wu, ex-state secretary Kee Mustafa and former deputy chief minister Herman J Luping, who is also an ex-state attorney-general.