SABAH RCI Sabah politicians are split on the outcome of the royal commission of inquiry on immigrants in Sabah.

While Upko acting president Wilfred Madius Tangau lauded the unveiling as a victory in itself, Sabah DAP vice-chairperson Chan Foong Hin said the contents left much to be desired.

“It’s a day of victory, a show of real political will concerning the influx of foreign illegal immigrants in our Land Below the Wind...

“To us, the report is in itself a silencing answer to (the opposition’s) mischievous acts,” Madius said in a statement.

Madius ( left ) said it is a victory for Upko as the party has long championed the matter and had at its convention on Nov 15 urged Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak to reveal the findings.

He said Najib had then promised it will be unveiled in early December and fulfilled this promise yesterday.

He said that the publishing of the report is a relief for the BN party, which represents the Kadazandusun Murut community, no matter the content.

“But make no mistake about it. This is not mission accomplished yet,” he said.

While DAP’s Chan agrees that the mission is not yet complete, he believes the report is far from a victory.

In fact, he said the fact that the RCI can only conclude that Project IC probably happened shows the investigations were shoddy.

“It’s a total insult to Sabahans,” he was quoted by the Borneo Post as saying.

Chan ( right ) also questioned if PBS chief and Deputy Chief Minister Joseph Pairin Kitingan can accept the findings that say the illegal mass issuance of identity cards was not politically motivated.

This means that the then non-BN PBS government led by Pairin was not toppled using illegal means, as widely claimed, he said.

The RCI blamed the illegal issuance of ICs on profit-driven syndicates and said there is insufficient evidence to say it is politically-motivated.

It said that the five former National Registration Department officers who testified to participating in a citizenship-for-votes exercise were not cross-examined, so their evidence is still questionable.

The witnesses, all ex-Internal Security Act detainees, said they did that to raise the number of Muslim voters in the state, to destabilise the Christian-led government.

The RCI relied on the testimony of Special Branch officers who said all who were nabbed under the Internal Security Act for illegally issuing ICs, were financially-motivated.

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