January 2013 has been a month of revelation as the RCI on Illegal Immigrants in Sabah was on the way. And as usual, there are those whom tried to "steal the thunder" and pointing fingers at the government claiming it for their own selfish political mileage even though the initial proceedings of the RCI was still on the way at the time. However, we still need to look back past years and jog our memory and see how this RCI came to be.
Chief Minister, Datuk Seri Musa Haji Aman ought to be commended for his foresight to set up the Sabah BN committee on citizenship. The committee itself was chaired by Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan who has been as the catalyst in the formation of the RCI. This committee have discussed and articulated the popular demand for RCI: Taking all factors into consideration to formulate the terms of reference most of which were adopted by the Federal government.
Behind the backdrop of decades of relentless efforts or rather frustration, the formation of the RCI reflects the Prime Minister's serious commitment to resolve the perennial problems related to the huge presence of illegal immigrants in Sabah.
According to recent statistic which was presented in Parliament in 2011, Sabah’s populace numbered 651,304 in 1970 and grew to 929,299 a decade later. But in the two decades following 1980, the state’s population rose significantly by a staggering 1.5 million people, reaching 2,468,246 by 2000.
Recent times have witnessed how the opposition have made certain critical remarks in order to capitalize the issue of RCI as well as illegal immigrant for their political mileage: to some extent can be seen as an agenda to sabotage its (RCI) implementation. Among these act of desperation was the attempt to belittle the RCI announcement. However some of these opposition figure failed to see or decided to look past the fact that Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was in fact against the RCI when he was Deputy Prime Minister. Again history have not only proven but also confirmed a long lingering suspicion that he is not sincere in resolving the problem of illegal immigrants.
In view of these sceptical 'noises' made by the opposition, Sabah Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun has called on the people in the country not to start undermining the credibility of the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) that will investigate problems related to illegal immigrants in Sabah. But instead gave the advise that the RCI the benefit of the doubt. Indeed he was spot-on: Once we the people to start undermining the credibility of the RCI, the request for a RCI will be "an exercise in futility".
In spite of these negative rhethorics made by the oppositions, there have been a lot of positive response made by many. The Sabah Youth Council (SYC) has lauded the setting up of the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI)on Illegal Immigrants in Sabah saying it will boost the people's confidence in the Barisan Nasional (BN) government.
Its president Kevin Lim said it showed that the government really listened to the people. The RCI is significant as it is something that the people have been requesting for. The findings by the panel will finally answer questions that had been playing on the people's minds. "For this, the people will regard the government as truly sincere in wanting to find a solution to the illegal immigrant dilemma in Sabah.
Not only that, professionals in Sabah view the setting up of the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on Illegal Immigrants in Sabah as proof of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak's sincerity to resolve the problem. A law graduate from Universiti Malaya, Salman Nurillah, said the setting up of the RCI would eliminate the perception on the presence of phantom voters in elections in Sabah. It also proves that the government led by Najib has never ignored the people's desire to see the government doing something to resolve the problems on phantom voters and illegal immigrants.
Bottom line: This clearly showed that both State and Federal Government have been concerned with the illegal immigrant issues and have worked tirelessly in formulating the TOR in anticipation of the RCI. Now that the RCI, TOR and panel members had been announced and the initial proceeding has just recently concluded; it only has demonstrated that there is a political will to get to the bottom of this issue. Needless to say: there are other fractions as well had jump into the bandwagon to serve their own political gains in the pending general election.
(More to come in part II....stay tuned)
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