PAPAR: Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said allegations that the government had issued blue identification cards and birth certificates to unqualified immigrants in Sabah were outright lies to defame Barisan Nasional (BN) leaders.
Speaking during a “Bicara Minda With Tun Dr Mahathir” here yesterday, the former prime minister reiterated that it was never a policy of the federal government to grant citizenship to illegal immigrants or any foreigners in Sabah or anywhere in the country who do not fulfill the requirements stipulated by laws.
“The claims that we gave citizenship without considering whether they qualified or not is just not true. Those who did not meet the requirement, we sent them back home. We know how many we have deported back,” he said.
The event held at the district community hall was organized by Papar Elected Representative Service Centre.
Admittedly, he said Malaysia had given citizenship to many immigrants since gaining independence, and in fact many of its citizens today were originally outsiders.
Even until today, he said the Malaysian government still practises the very same policy of granting citizenship to qualified immigrants after they met all the requirements needed.
“The Chinese for example, would not be called Chinese if they were not originally from China, the Indian would not be called Indian if not because of their origin from India.
“It is the same in Sabah, many have migrated from neighbouring countries; some others were even from countries farther away. They came to Sabah because the life here is better and they are comfortable living here.
“They have lived here for tens of years, speak the local languages and have given their loyalty to Malaysia; that’s why we give them consideration. It can be said that almost all of us in Malaysia, our ancestors were from somewhere else but we all qualify and accepted as Malaysians,” he said.
He acknowleged that there were some cases where irresponsible government officers had abused their power and allowed unqualified foreigners to gain citizenship in return for monetary gain.
However, he said this was the act of greedy individuals and not a result of a government sanctioned exercise as claimed, adding that those who were found to be involved had been punished accordingly.
“Sometimes things that are not supposed to happen do happen, (such as) officers misusing their position to give citizenships to those who should not be given citizenship. Because of money, this could happen,” he said.
With the 13th general election to be held soon, Dr Mahathir hinted that it was not unlikely the opposition would harp on the citizenship issue again in their attempt to fish for support.
Although it is fair to campaign for votes in a democratic system, he said it was wrong for the competing parties to resort to slander and baseless accusations to discredit their opponents.
“They make unfounded allegations just to create suspicion and anger among the people. They accuse that people (their opponents) have done wrong but our country have laws and those who have done wrong will be brought to justice. That is why we have set up the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) to look into the illegal immigrant issue,” he said.