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Monday, April 13, 2015

Harris says Mahathir was misquoted on Projek IC

Mahathir told the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) that he had never heard of Projek IC or Projek IC Mahathir.
projek mic mahathir
KOTA KINABALU: Former Sabah Chief Minister Harris Salleh remains convinced that former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad was either misquoted, quoted out of context or had the words “Projek IC” put in his mouth by the media recently.
Mahathir was quoted as saying in all media that the Projek IC in Sabah, sometimes referred to as Projek IC Mahathir, was “justified”. Numerous police reports have since been lodged on the matter in Sabah.
“There’s no Projek IC in Sabah,” declared Harris and pointed out that Mahathir himself had told the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) in Kota Kinabalu not so long ago that he had never heard of Projek IC or Projek IC Mahathir.
“I am sure that what Mahathir said, or meant to say in the recent media reports, was only that the Federal Government was justified in giving out IC to foreigners in Sabah who had stayed here for a very long time. I don’t think that he meant Projek IC.”
Also, Harris wanted to stress that the RCI recorded many “wild statements”. “Not everything in the RCI Report should be taken as the Gospel truth just because the word Royal is there.”
He added that the Federal Government’s actions — in giving out ICs to foreigners in Sabah — was justified by Malaysian laws and policies and the UN Convention. “Also, we must remember that until a few hundred years ago, Sabah belonged to and was ruled by Sulu, Indonesia and Brunei.”
The foreigners, who were given ICs, he claimed, were encouraged by the British North Borneo Company to come to Sabah and work. “The IC Regulations only came into effect in 1967,” he said. “Those who were in Sabah before 1963 are qualified to be citizens by operation of law.”
“In 1963, at the time of Federation, there were 100,000 people from the Philippines and Indonesia in Sabah. Later, they were joined by 50,000 refugees from the southern Philippines.”
He drew parallels with the fact that one million Chinese in the peninsula, British subjects at the time of independence, were eligible to take up Malayan citizenship in 1957. “Giving citizenship to the Chinese reduced the percentage of Malays in the population.”
Operation of law is a term in the Federal Constitution which automatically recognises the descendants of citizens as citizens.
Citizenship was also accorded by the Federation of Malaya Independence Act 1957 in the peninsula, and in Sabah and Sarawak by the Malaysia Agreement 1963. These referred to people who were in the respective territories at the stroke of midnight on August 31, 1957 or September 16, 1963 as the case may be and were thereby eligible for citizenship.

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