KENINGAU: United Borneo Front (UBF) leader Dr Nicholas James Guntobon said Pekida is trying to mislead the people by implying that the setting up of Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) is to instigate Sabahans to hate the Federal government.
He said the call for RCI is meant to look for answers and explanations on the sharp increase in the population of certain small groups in Sabah and the alleged issuance of MyKads to hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants.
“The Project IC is not a secret. Its existence has been exposed and revealed by numerous people in court cases, in statutory declarations and books and researched papers.
“Is Pekida chairman Datu Mohd Datu Ali Muhammad coming up against the RCI now just because he is emboldened by inflated numbers in his community?
“I think this is more the reason for the RCI to be pursued, before some hard-headed people come to Putrajaya and demand to be recognised as sultan and qualify to be a future Yang di-Pertuan Agong,” Dr Nicholas, who is UBF coordinator for Liawan, said in a statement yesterday.
He contended that the only person or group that will oppose the formation of RCI are those illegal immigrants themselves.
“Why should a genuine Sabahan oppose the RCI to investigate such an important issue that transgressed all good laws of this country and this state? Are they afraid that their real identity will eventually be exposed?
“It’s true that the decision to issue citizenship lies with the Federal government but how could the Federal give citizenship to those people who came here illegally in the first place?” Dr Nicholas asked.
He pointed out that the declaration certificate form mentioned by Mohd Akjan must be investigated to establish its veracity.
“How can he uses the sijil which is known to be heavily abused? This is among the things the proposed RCI needs to investigate.”
According to Dr Nicholas, there are no doubts that there are a lot of ethnic groups in Sabah, but the people must also know the statistics and their distribution in Sabah.
“The average population increase is just above 100%. But if one population increases by a huge 300% to 1,500%, this should be investigated,” he said.
He added that the issuance of IMM13 to “war refugees” in Sabah also needs to be investigated as they should not be here as Malaysia is not a signatory to certain UN accord.
“I agree that we should look into our history and the genesis of Sabah independence and Malaysia’s formation. This advice is as good for Akjan himself too.
“It is more important to set up RCI now in order to avoid any racial tension in the state. Sentiment is already boiling and RCI is the only proper way to solve this perennial problem of over-flooding Sabah with illegal immigrants,” he added.
Daniel John Jambun, who is an advisor to UK-based Human Rights Foundation Malaysia, also reckoned that RCI is the only way to end MyKad controversy in Sabah.
“Akjan can give evidence at RCI, no need to get worked up and be so defensive. No need to defend the Federal Government because it can defend itself,” he said in a statement.