Parti Cinta Sabah (PCS) president Wilfred Bumburing has alleged that Parti Warisan Sabah draws its support from "new citizens," or migrants who obtained citizenship through dubious means.

According to Daily Express, Bumburing said Warisan should state its stand on the issue.

"There are many people with the perception that Warisan derives much support from the new citizens," he said.

In an immediate reaction, Warisan treasurer Terrence Siambun accused Bumburing of trying to stir up ethnic issues to promote himself.

He said the PCS president should take his grievances on citizenships to the rightful authorities, such as the National Registration Department and the Election Commission, instead of issuing public statements.

"For Bumburing to issue a statement by relying merely on hearsay and rumour which he himself admitted to be the 'people's perception'... depicts his mala fide intention to tarnish the image of Warisan through his own version of fake news.

"In fact, Bumburing was once the Sabah deputy chief minister but what happened? The state government... should have solved it then because the state has power over immigration and registration of births," he said.

Siambun also pondered aloud why Bumburing was pointing fingers at Warisan, an opposition party, instead of the state government.

In 2014, the Royal Commission of Inquiry on Sabah's population boom in the 1990s concluded that there were syndicates that aided unqualified migrants in obtaining Malaysian identity cards.

Following this, a permanent secretariat, chaired by Parti Bersatu Sabah's Joseph Pairin Kitingan, was established to resolve the matter.

The secretariat has not revealed what measures will be taken to do this, however.