KUALA LUMPUR: An official Malaysian inquiry yesterday cleared the country’s long-ruling regime of involvement in a huge scheme to grant citizenship to illegal aliens in exchange for votes, drawing opposition accusations of a whitewash.
Explosive allegations that aired in 2012 hearings detailed a systematic clandestine campaign begun in the state of Sabah in the 1980s to fast-track citizenship for possibly hundreds of thousands of Muslim illegal migrants from the southern Philippines and Indonesia.
The regime dominated by the Muslim ruling party, the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), is accused of seeking to alter the demographics of the politically important, multi-faith state to make it more Muslim and thus more UMNO-friendly. UMNO was battling at the time to wrest Sabah from opposition control, which it did in 1994 and has held onto ever since.
A Royal Commission of Inquiry’s final report into the scandal said vaguely that the scheme probably existed, adding that “nefarious activities ... precipitated and accelerated the influx of illegal immigrants into the state.”
But it blamed criminal “syndicates” and unnamed “corrupt officials”, and avoided implicating UMNO or former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, who ruled from 1981-2003 and is suspected of masterminding the scheme. Mahathir, still an influential political figure in retirement, denies the charge.
“I am disappointed by the findings. Blaming criminal syndicates? Thousands of identity cards (ICs) were given out, how can the government not detect this?” said Wilfred Bumburing, a veteran Sabah politician now with the opposition.AFP
