Sabahans angered by minister’s accusation
MalaysiaKini.com
Dec 8, 2014

Sabahans and members of the opposition are angry with Urban Well-being, Housing and Local Government Minister Abdul Rahman Dahlan for accusing  Sabahans of being responsible for the illegal immigrant problems in the state.

Rahman said two days ago that Sabahans should blame themselves before pointing fingers at others with regard to the influx of illegal immigrants into Sabah, and the fact that many of these aliens have unlawfully obtained genuine identity cards (IC).

Rahman, who is the MP for Kota Belud, also said the leaders of Sabah themselves had asked for the use of statutory declarations for the issuance of ICs to the people, and this was abused by irresponsible village chiefs to help immigrants pose as locals and obtain citizenship.

"It is extremely disappointing for Sabahans to read his statement, which offends Sabahans more and makes them angrier with the federal government," State Reform Party (Star Sabah) chief  Jeffrey Kitingan said in response to Rahmans’ statement.

How could Rahman point fingers at Sabahans and blame them for the illegal immigrant problem, Kitingan asked.

Sabah and Malaysia would not be in this mess today if the federal government did not give ICs and MyKad to ineligible foreigners and did not enter them into the electoral rolls, even if their relatives had helped them come into Sabah, or if there were abuses in applications, he said.

Kitingan, who is the Bingkor assemblyperson, said that in his eagerness to nail  Anwar Ibrahim for his involvement in Project IC, Rahman had inadvertently let the cat out of the bag. 

'It means Project IC exists' 

If Rahman was saying that Anwar cannot deny that he has the knowledge, then it can only mean that Project IC exists, whether Anwar knows or not, the Sabah opposition politician said.

Rahman should help find solutions and openly declare his intention instead of making insinuating statements defending the federal government and blaming everything on Sabahans, so as to deflect blame from the federal government, Kitingan said.

"If Rahman is defending his federal bosses and the federal government in Putrajaya, he should provide concrete proof and not make wild accusations and sweeping statements," Kitingan said.

He said  on the previous occasion, Rahman had alleged that the federal government had provided RM22.1 billion in allocations for Sabah in 2012-2013 but could not provide a single shred of evidence of the alleged allocations.

If he is eyeing the chief ministership of Sabah or a higher and more important ministerial position, he need not disguise himself by making statements that are self-defeating.   

He should just go and meet the prime minister and ask for the positions or other benefits, Kitingan said.

"Rahman should not play politics now to defend his Umno bosses and say the federal government is not involved but focus on the task as a federal minister from Sabah and guide the federal cabinet to formulate solutions to solve the illegally-issued ICs and MyKad and illegal voters," he said.

There was no reason, he added, as to why the illegal immigrant problems could not be solved, unless the Umno/BN government wished to continue to flood Sabah with immigrants and keep them as voters so that Umno/BN could remain in the government.

Copyright © 1999-2012 Mkini Dotcom Sdn. Bhd	
Sourcehttp: http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/282839