KOTA KINABALU: Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah (PBRS) president Tan Sri Joseph Kurup urged those who know that they obtained their documents through dubious means to come forward voluntarily and surrender their said documents voluntarily.
“If they don’t (come forward voluntarily), they will surely face the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) sooner or later,” he cautioned.
He said he expects the RCI to commence work immediately given the short time frame for it to complete the task.
“Once again we welcome the establishment of the RCI to look into the decades old problems of illegal immigrants and thenceforth possession of MyKad through the back door.
“Since the members of the RCI are to complete the job entrusted to them within six months, I am very sure they will start work immediately and will also start calling witnesses,” he said.
Meanwhile, Bersih Sabah calls on the government to review the panel members of the RCI and demands the re-drafting of the Terms of Reference(TOR) with immediate effect.
Bersih Sabah spokesperson Andrew Ambrose (also known as Atama) said he disagreed with the government decision to appoint Tan Sri Herman Luping, a former Sabah Attorney-General, as a panel member.
Herman was one of the five appointed to the RCI panel which is led by a former Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak, Tan Sri Steve Shim. The others are former Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) vice-chancellor Professor Datuk Dr Kamaruzaman Ampon, former Sabah State Secretary Datuk K.Y Mustafa and Malaysian Crime Prevention Foundation deputy chairman Datuk Henry Chin Poy Wu.
Atama also called for additional terms of allowing amnesty for witnesses to protect those who testify in court, culprits must be charged in court and punishable by law, and finally international and impartial observers into the RCI to ensure better transparency because the RCI involves investigation of foreigners granted citizenship.
In this turn of event, Bersih Sabah now calls on the government to set up a referendum to find out wether Sabahans are happy with the findings and conclusions of the RCI.