Project IC
Encyclopedia
Project IC is the name used in Malaysia to describe the allegation of systematic granting of citizenship
to immigrants (whether illegal or legal immigrants) by giving them identity document
s known as IC (identity card), and subsequently, MyKad
. The alleged practice is centered in the state of Sabah
in East Malaysia
. The term is used mainly by the media
as well as other political commentators and the general public. Another term used is Project M, where "M" stood for Mahathir Mohamad, the former prime minister of Malaysia due to his being allegedly involved in the spearheading of this project. The alleged object of Project IC is to alter the demographic pattern of Sabah to make it more favorable to the ruling government and certain political parties, especially with regards to changing the electoral
voting
patterns.
The project, in its widespread and intensive form, is suspected to have begun in the early 1990s after the entry of United Malays National Organisation
(UMNO) into Sabah politics. However, there were also allegations of mass immigration
and naturalization
of migrants in the 1970s under the United Sabah National Organization
(USNO) government, and in the early 1980s under BERJAYA
government. On a nationwide scale, illegal immigration
is a major social issue. The problem is linked with alleged phantom voters
also seen in other parts of Malaysia during elections.
, Singapore
, and Malaya
together formed the federation of Malaysia on September 16, 1963. Sabah was multiracial state with no clear majority race, but with the Kadazandusun as the largest ethnic group. Unlike other states in Peninsular Malaysia
, the majority of natives or bumiputra
s in Sabah are non-Muslims. In 1960, the state comprised:
Based on this ethnic composition, the Kadazandusun dominated the political scene and the first chief minister appointed was Tun Fuad Stephens
, a Kadazandusun. Tun Fuad played an important role in the negotiations involving the independence of Sabah together with Tun Mustapha, a Bajau. After the formation, Tun Mustapha was made governor (Yang di-Pertua Negeri
). Subsequent to this, various political parties, mostly racially-based, took turns in helming government. Tun Mustapha's United Sabah National Organization
(USNO) took control of the state in 1967. The mainly Bajau Muslim party relied on Muslim votes in elections. Similarly for other Kadazan-based party or Chinese-based party, who rely on votes from their respective communities. Later, BERJAYA
took control of the state. This party was more multiracial in its composition of member, but was headed by Muslim leaders such as Harris Salleh
. There had been allegations of mass naturalization
of illegal immigrants during the tenure of Tun Mustapha and Harris Salleh including the deliberate classification of immigrants under the name pribumi during the reign of BERJAYA. There was even one instance of Harris Salleh openly admitting to carrying out and planning to overwhelm the demography of Sabah in favor of Muslims. Meanwhile on a national level, politics were dominated by UMNO, a Malay-based party. Both USNO and BERJAYA had worked closely with UMNO at certain points in history. In 1985, a largely Kadazandusun party, Parti Bersatu Sabah
(PBS), won in the state election that year. The 1986 Sabah riots
ensued in shortly after the results were announced to bring down the party president, Joseph Pairin Kitingan
, as chief minister. In 1990, BERJAYA and USNO, decided to dissolve their party and form the Sabah chapter of UMNO. This party relied on membership from Muslim citizens of Sabah, be they Bajau, Suluk, Bugis
, or others. The practice of naturalizing immigrants was further intensified to guarantee their dominance in Sabah. They realised a great potential in altering the demography in their favor since most immigrants into Sabah were Muslims from Indonesia and southern Philippines. Later in 1994, UMNO managed to get hold of the government despite losing in the elections that year
. In 2006, the estimated ethnic composition of Sabah are as follows:
Project IC is not so concerned with the 25% of non-citizens
as this denotes immigrants
without Malaysian ICs. The main point of contention when comparing the statistics for 1960 and 2006 is with regards to the sharp increase of "Malays", as well as the large number of "Other Bumiputras". There is also the significant drop in the percentage of the non-Muslim population, namely, Kadazandusuns, Muruts, and Chinese. After Barisan Nasional regained power in 1994, the rotation system was introduced, whereby the chief minister's post is rotated among the representatives of the three different communities in Sabah, namely, the Muslim Bumiputras, Non-Muslim Bumiputras, and the Chinese. However, after 2005, BN decided to do away with the rotation system, giving the post to UMNO's representative, led by current chief minister Musa Aman
. Following the 2008 state election
, BN currently controls the state winning 59 out of 60 state assembly seats on offer. Out of the 59 BN seats, 32 are from UMNO, while the rest are held by various predominantly non-Muslim parties.
In 1999, a petition was made to nullify the results of the 1999 state election for the constituency of Likas
based on the existence of thousands of dubious names found on the electoral roll. The seat was won by Sabah Progressive Party
(SAPP) candidate, President, and former chief minister, Yong Teck Lee
. SAPP is part of the Barisan Nasional coalition. The petitioner was Chong Eng Leong of Parti Bersatu Sabah
(PBS), who lost in that seat. PBS was at that time not part of the BN coalition. One of the witness at the petition was Mutalib Mohd Daud, the former Silam Umno Division Executive Secretary. Mutalib was from Peninsular Malaysia
who migrated to Sabah in the 1970s. He noted at the petition that among the 43,000 newly recruited UMNO members only 14,000 had genuine identity cards. Mutalib had also written a number of books exposing accounts of questionable granting of citizenship to foreigners. Among his books were, IC Palsu: Merampas Hak Anak Sabah (1999) (Fake IC: Taking Away the Rights of Sabahans), Pengundi Untuk Disewa (Voters for Rent), IC Projek Agenda Tersembunyi Mahathir?" (2006) (IC Project, Mahathir's Hidden Agenda?), 007 Lelaki Malaysia Terakhir (2007) (The Last Malaysian).
Another witness was UMNO's Chief Information Officer Karim bin Ghani who was alleged to have written a letter to all UMNO branches in Sabah. The letter purportedly contained directions on the handling of Project IC. Karim claimed that he did not write the letter and that his signature was forged
. The judge however viewed his bare denial with deep suspicion.
The judge presiding the petition, Justice Muhammad Kamil bin Awang, ruled in favour of the petitioner and declared that the 1999 election result for Likas a nullity. He also mentioned in his judgement that he had received instructions over the phone to have the petitions struck out without hearing—an instruction which he dutifully ignored.
In 2007, the former Sandakan
district chief Hassnar Ebrahim made a statement confessing being involved in Project IC. He was a former detainee of the Internal Security Act
in 1998. He also testified in the petition for the annulment of the Likas state assembly district election in 1999. Hassnar had exposed in specific details of the modus operandi of project of which he had witnessed. He mentioned a secret meeting between former Sabah chief minister Harris Salleh and Federal Minister Megat Junid Megat Ayub
in Hong Kong
. Hassnar claimed that 130,000 illegal immigrants were given ICs in 1985 alone. He also claimed that the aim of the operation was to increase the Muslim population of Sabah.
It has been said that the project was a secret policy of the Barisan Nasional
(BN) coalition, in particular United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), in order to attain political domination in the state using the votes of these immigrants. The immigrants are picked from those communities which would more closely resemble the Malay
culture, or those who would most easily be assimilated
into Malay culture. Main indicators would be if the immigrants were Muslims and if they speak Malay
. It was acknowledged by the judge in the 1999 Likas petition in reference to Ops Gembeling, that the target of the operation were the "Malays of Bugis origin".
In response to a 2007 Parliamentary Select Committee, popular Malaysian news blog Malaysia Today
alleges that UMNO had made a deal with the government of Libya
and the Abu Sayyaf
militant Islamic group in the Philippines
to bring in 1 million new Muslim voters from Philippines into Sabah.
Former Parti Keadilan Rakyat
vice president Jeffrey Kitingan
alleges that there are 600,000 immigrants with ICs out of an estimated 1.7 million foreigners in Sabah. The estimated population in Sabah in 2006 was 2,997,000. Most of the foreigners in Sabah are from Indonesia and the Philippines.
for their involvements in Project IC. A Parliamentary Select Committee on Integrity was set up to hear testimonies of some of the detainees in February 2007. The committee was chaired by Sabah Member of Parliament Bernard Dompok. On May 16, 2007, Dompok quit as chairman of the committee over disagreements on the function and scope of the committee, in particular, over the refusal of the National Registration Department to appear before the committee. Later on, the findings of the committee was never made public.
In May 2008, Member of Parliament (MP) Lim Kit Siang tabled a motion to set up a Royal Commission
to investigate the problems relating to illegal immigrants in Sabah. The motion however was rejected by the Deputy Speaker of the Dewan Rakyat
, Ronald Kiandee
saying that the motion was irrelevant and was tabled at the wrong time. Several MPs from Sabah gave lukewarm response towards the proposed motion preferring instead a Parliamentary Select Committee which would necessitate the involvement of elected MPs, especially from Sabah. Subsequently, Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
announced the setting up of a high powered cabinet committee chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak
to resolve this matter. However, senior Sabahan politician Chong Eng Leong argued that similar committees had been set up in 2000 and 2006 without much results. The Consumers Association of Sabah and Labuan (CASH) contends that the announcement of, among others, the setting up of the cabinet committee, was a mere lip service to pacify the people of Sabah.
There has been several government crackdown operation to deport illegal immigrants since the 1990s. The latest crackdown is due to begin in August 2008. These operations will serve to deport immigrants without proper documentations such as ICs or a valid work permit
. It does not serve to address the issue of Project IC.
Citizenship
Citizenship is the state of being a citizen of a particular social, political, national, or human resource community. Citizenship status, under social contract theory, carries with it both rights and responsibilities...
to immigrants (whether illegal or legal immigrants) by giving them identity document
Identity document
An identity document is any document which may be used to verify aspects of a person's personal identity. If issued in the form of a small, mostly standard-sized card, it is usually called an identity card...
s known as IC (identity card), and subsequently, MyKad
MyKad
MyKad is the compulsory identity document for Malaysian citizens aged 12 and above. Introduced by the National Registration Department of Malaysia on 5 September 2001 as one of four MSC Malaysia flagship applications and a replacement for the High Quality Identity Card , Malaysia became the first...
. The alleged practice is centered in the state of Sabah
Sabah
Sabah is one of 13 member states of Malaysia. It is located on the northern portion of the island of Borneo. It is the second largest state in the country after Sarawak, which it borders on its southwest. It also shares a border with the province of East Kalimantan of Indonesia in the south...
in East Malaysia
East Malaysia
East Malaysia, also known as Malaysian Borneo, is the part of Malaysia located on the island of Borneo. It consists of the Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak, and the Federal Territory of Labuan. It lies to the east from Peninsular Malaysia , which is located on the Malay Peninsula. The two are...
. The term is used mainly by the media
Media of Malaysia
The media of Malaysia include television, radio, newspapers, and web-based media such as bloggers. Many media outlets are either owned directly by the government of Malaysia or owned by component parties of the Barisan Nasional coalition government The media of Malaysia include television, radio,...
as well as other political commentators and the general public. Another term used is Project M, where "M" stood for Mahathir Mohamad, the former prime minister of Malaysia due to his being allegedly involved in the spearheading of this project. The alleged object of Project IC is to alter the demographic pattern of Sabah to make it more favorable to the ruling government and certain political parties, especially with regards to changing the electoral
Election
An election is a formal decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy operates since the 17th century. Elections may fill offices in the legislature, sometimes in the...
voting
Voting
Voting is a method for a group such as a meeting or an electorate to make a decision or express an opinion—often following discussions, debates, or election campaigns. It is often found in democracies and republics.- Reasons for voting :...
patterns.
The project, in its widespread and intensive form, is suspected to have begun in the early 1990s after the entry of United Malays National Organisation
United Malays National Organisation
The United Malays National Organisation, is Malaysia's largest political party; a founding member of the National Front coalition, which has played a dominant role in Malaysian politics since independence....
(UMNO) into Sabah politics. However, there were also allegations of mass immigration
Immigration
Immigration is the act of foreigners passing or coming into a country for the purpose of permanent residence...
and naturalization
Naturalization
Naturalization is the acquisition of citizenship and nationality by somebody who was not a citizen of that country at the time of birth....
of migrants in the 1970s under the United Sabah National Organization
United Sabah National Organization
United Sabah National Organization was a political party based in Sabah, Malaysia. The party was founded by Tun Mustapha, the third Chief Minister of Sabah. The party came into power after winning the 1967 state election...
(USNO) government, and in the early 1980s under BERJAYA
BERJAYA
BERJAYA was a political party based in the eastern state of Sabah in Malaysia. BERJAYA stands for Parti Bersatu Rakyat Jelata Sabah or Sabah People's United Front. The party was a result of a cooperation between Sabah's first Chief Minister Tun Fuad Stephens and former United Sabah National...
government. On a nationwide scale, illegal immigration
Illegal immigrants in Malaysia
Illegal immigrants in Malaysia comprise a substantial portion of the Malaysian population, numbering as many as two million by some estimates. Most of them are from nearby Southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia and the Philippines. Illegal migrants tend to take odd jobs unpalatable to the...
is a major social issue. The problem is linked with alleged phantom voters
Electoral fraud
Electoral fraud is illegal interference with the process of an election. Acts of fraud affect vote counts to bring about an election result, whether by increasing the vote share of the favored candidate, depressing the vote share of the rival candidates or both...
also seen in other parts of Malaysia during elections.
Background
Sabah together with SarawakSarawak
Sarawak is one of two Malaysian states on the island of Borneo. Known as Bumi Kenyalang , Sarawak is situated on the north-west of the island. It is the largest state in Malaysia followed by Sabah, the second largest state located to the North- East.The administrative capital is Kuching, which...
, Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
, and Malaya
Federation of Malaya
The Federation of Malaya is the name given to a federation of 11 states that existed from 31 January 1948 until 16 September 1963. The Federation became independent on 31 August 1957...
together formed the federation of Malaysia on September 16, 1963. Sabah was multiracial state with no clear majority race, but with the Kadazandusun as the largest ethnic group. Unlike other states in Peninsular Malaysia
Peninsular Malaysia
Peninsular Malaysia , also known as West Malaysia , is the part of Malaysia which lies on the Malay Peninsula. Its area is . It shares a land border with Thailand in the north. To the south is the island of Singapore. Across the Strait of Malacca to the west lies the island of Sumatra...
, the majority of natives or bumiputra
Bumiputra
Bumiputera or Bumiputra is a Malay term widely used in Malaysia, embracing indigenous people of the Malay Archipelago. The term comes from the Sanskrit word bhumiputra, which can be translated literally as "son of land"...
s in Sabah are non-Muslims. In 1960, the state comprised:
- 32% Kadazandusuns,
- 23% ChineseMalaysian ChineseMalaysian Chinese is a Malaysian of Chinese origin. Most are descendants of Chinese who arrived between the fifteenth and the mid-twentieth centuries. Within Malaysia, they are usually simply referred to as "Chinese" in all languages. The term Chinese Malaysian is also sometimes used to refer to...
, - 15.8% Other MuslimMuslimA Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
s, - 13.1% BajauBajauThe Bajau or Bajaw , also spelled Bajao, Badjau, Badjaw, or Badjao, are an indigenous ethnic group of Maritime Southeast Asia...
s, - 5.5% IndonesiaIndonesiaIndonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
ns - 4.9% MurutMurutMurut may refer to:* Murut people, an ethnic group of the northern inland regions of Borneo* Murutic languages or Murut languages, spoken by those people* Tagol Murut language, the most widely spoken of the Murutic languages* Murut, Azerbaijan, a village...
s, - 1.6% FilipinosFilipino peopleThe Filipino people or Filipinos are an Austronesian ethnic group native to the islands of the Philippines. There are about 92 million Filipinos in the Philippines, and about 11 million living outside the Philippines ....
and - 0.4% MalaysMalaysian MalayIn Malaysia, the Malay population is defined by Article 160 of the Malaysian Constitution as someone born to a Malaysian citizen who professes to be a Muslim, habitually speaks the Malay language, adheres to Malay customs and is domiciled in Malaysia or Singapore...
.
Based on this ethnic composition, the Kadazandusun dominated the political scene and the first chief minister appointed was Tun Fuad Stephens
Tun Fuad Stephens
Tun Haji Mohammad Fuad Stephens, previously known as, Donald Stephens, was the first Chief Minister of the state of Sabah in Malaysia. He played a fundamental role in bringing the state of Sabah into the Federation of Malaysia in 1963. He held the chief minister post until 1964, and again in 1976...
, a Kadazandusun. Tun Fuad played an important role in the negotiations involving the independence of Sabah together with Tun Mustapha, a Bajau. After the formation, Tun Mustapha was made governor (Yang di-Pertua Negeri
Yang di-Pertua Negeri
The Yang di-Pertua Negeri is the official title of the ceremonial heads of state of the Malaysian states without hereditary rulers, namely Penang, Malacca, Sabah and Sarawak...
). Subsequent to this, various political parties, mostly racially-based, took turns in helming government. Tun Mustapha's United Sabah National Organization
United Sabah National Organization
United Sabah National Organization was a political party based in Sabah, Malaysia. The party was founded by Tun Mustapha, the third Chief Minister of Sabah. The party came into power after winning the 1967 state election...
(USNO) took control of the state in 1967. The mainly Bajau Muslim party relied on Muslim votes in elections. Similarly for other Kadazan-based party or Chinese-based party, who rely on votes from their respective communities. Later, BERJAYA
BERJAYA
BERJAYA was a political party based in the eastern state of Sabah in Malaysia. BERJAYA stands for Parti Bersatu Rakyat Jelata Sabah or Sabah People's United Front. The party was a result of a cooperation between Sabah's first Chief Minister Tun Fuad Stephens and former United Sabah National...
took control of the state. This party was more multiracial in its composition of member, but was headed by Muslim leaders such as Harris Salleh
Harris Salleh
Yang Berhormat Tan Sri Datuk Seri Panglima Harris bin Mohd Salleh, was the 6th Chief Minister of the state of Sabah, in Malaysia. He was also the president for Parti Berjaya. He held the Chief Minister's post from 1976 to 1985...
. There had been allegations of mass naturalization
Naturalization
Naturalization is the acquisition of citizenship and nationality by somebody who was not a citizen of that country at the time of birth....
of illegal immigrants during the tenure of Tun Mustapha and Harris Salleh including the deliberate classification of immigrants under the name pribumi during the reign of BERJAYA. There was even one instance of Harris Salleh openly admitting to carrying out and planning to overwhelm the demography of Sabah in favor of Muslims. Meanwhile on a national level, politics were dominated by UMNO, a Malay-based party. Both USNO and BERJAYA had worked closely with UMNO at certain points in history. In 1985, a largely Kadazandusun party, Parti Bersatu Sabah
Parti Bersatu Sabah
The Parti Bersatu Sabah is a political party in Sabah, east Malaysia. It was registered as a political party on March 5, 1985...
(PBS), won in the state election that year. The 1986 Sabah riots
1986 Sabah riots
The 1986 Sabah riots occurred between March and May in various locations around the state of Sabah, Malaysia. The riots centered mainly in the capital Kota Kinabalu, as well as in the towns of Tawau and Sandakan. On March 12, seven plastic explosives were detonated in Kota Kinabalu. A bomb was also...
ensued in shortly after the results were announced to bring down the party president, Joseph Pairin Kitingan
Joseph Pairin Kitingan
Tan Sri Datuk Seri Panglima Joseph Pairin Kitingan , is a Malaysian politician and was the seventh Chief Minister of Sabah, a state in Malaysia. He held the post from April 1985 to March 1994. Currently, he is the Deputy Chief Minister and Minister of Infrastructure Development of Sabah and has...
, as chief minister. In 1990, BERJAYA and USNO, decided to dissolve their party and form the Sabah chapter of UMNO. This party relied on membership from Muslim citizens of Sabah, be they Bajau, Suluk, Bugis
Bugis
The Bugis are the most numerous of the three major linguistic and ethnic groups of South Sulawesi, the southwestern province of Sulawesi, Indonesia's third largest island. Although many Bugis live in the large port cities of Makassar and Parepare, the majority are farmers who grow wet rice on the...
, or others. The practice of naturalizing immigrants was further intensified to guarantee their dominance in Sabah. They realised a great potential in altering the demography in their favor since most immigrants into Sabah were Muslims from Indonesia and southern Philippines. Later in 1994, UMNO managed to get hold of the government despite losing in the elections that year
Sabah state election, 1994
The 1994 Sabah state election was held in February that year in the Malaysian state of Sabah. The election was one of the most controversial election in Sabah's political history. The election was won by the opposition party Parti Bersatu Sabah , winning 25 state electorates against 23 won by the...
. In 2006, the estimated ethnic composition of Sabah are as follows:
- 25% Non-citizens,
- 17.76% Kadazandusuns,
- 14.62% Other Bumiputras,
- 13.4% Bajaus,
- 11.48% Malays,
- 9.6% Chinese,
- 4.8% Others,
- 3.3% Muruts.
Project IC is not so concerned with the 25% of non-citizens
Alien (law)
In law, an alien is a person in a country who is not a citizen of that country.-Categorization:Types of "alien" persons are:*An alien who is legally permitted to remain in a country which is foreign to him or her. On specified terms, this kind of alien may be called a legal alien of that country...
as this denotes immigrants
Immigration
Immigration is the act of foreigners passing or coming into a country for the purpose of permanent residence...
without Malaysian ICs. The main point of contention when comparing the statistics for 1960 and 2006 is with regards to the sharp increase of "Malays", as well as the large number of "Other Bumiputras". There is also the significant drop in the percentage of the non-Muslim population, namely, Kadazandusuns, Muruts, and Chinese. After Barisan Nasional regained power in 1994, the rotation system was introduced, whereby the chief minister's post is rotated among the representatives of the three different communities in Sabah, namely, the Muslim Bumiputras, Non-Muslim Bumiputras, and the Chinese. However, after 2005, BN decided to do away with the rotation system, giving the post to UMNO's representative, led by current chief minister Musa Aman
Musa Aman
Datuk Seri Panglima Haji Musa bin Haji Aman , is the 14th and current Chief Minister of the state of Sabah in Malaysia. He took over the post from Chong Kah Kiat on March 27, 2003...
. Following the 2008 state election
Sabah state election, 2008
The 2008 Sabah state election was held on March 8, 2008, simultaneously with the 12th general election of Malaysia. 60 state assembly seats were contested. The election was won by the Barisan Nasional coalition with a similar amount of seats won as in the previous election, where they won 59...
, BN currently controls the state winning 59 out of 60 state assembly seats on offer. Out of the 59 BN seats, 32 are from UMNO, while the rest are held by various predominantly non-Muslim parties.
Modus operandi
The project is a complex matter involving certain political parties as well as various government agencies including the Election Commission of Malaysia, the National Registration Department and the Immigration Department, which comes under the purview of the Ministry of Home Affairs. The suspicions and allegations on the existence of Project IC started in around the mid-1990s.In 1999, a petition was made to nullify the results of the 1999 state election for the constituency of Likas
Likas
Likas is a sub-district in the city of Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia. Sabah's largest sports centre, Likas Sports Complex, is located here....
based on the existence of thousands of dubious names found on the electoral roll. The seat was won by Sabah Progressive Party
Sabah Progressive Party
The Sabah Progressive Party is a political party based in Sabah, East Malaysia. It was registered on 21 January 1994 by dissidents led by former Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Yong Teck Lee from Parti Bersatu Sabah . Formerly a component party in the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition, SAPP officially...
(SAPP) candidate, President, and former chief minister, Yong Teck Lee
Yong Teck Lee
Datuk Seri Yong Teck Lee is a Malaysian politician of Hakka Chinese descent. He is a former Chief Minister of Sabah and is currently the president of the Sabah Progressive Party .-Political History:...
. SAPP is part of the Barisan Nasional coalition. The petitioner was Chong Eng Leong of Parti Bersatu Sabah
Parti Bersatu Sabah
The Parti Bersatu Sabah is a political party in Sabah, east Malaysia. It was registered as a political party on March 5, 1985...
(PBS), who lost in that seat. PBS was at that time not part of the BN coalition. One of the witness at the petition was Mutalib Mohd Daud, the former Silam Umno Division Executive Secretary. Mutalib was from Peninsular Malaysia
Peninsular Malaysia
Peninsular Malaysia , also known as West Malaysia , is the part of Malaysia which lies on the Malay Peninsula. Its area is . It shares a land border with Thailand in the north. To the south is the island of Singapore. Across the Strait of Malacca to the west lies the island of Sumatra...
who migrated to Sabah in the 1970s. He noted at the petition that among the 43,000 newly recruited UMNO members only 14,000 had genuine identity cards. Mutalib had also written a number of books exposing accounts of questionable granting of citizenship to foreigners. Among his books were, IC Palsu: Merampas Hak Anak Sabah (1999) (Fake IC: Taking Away the Rights of Sabahans), Pengundi Untuk Disewa (Voters for Rent), IC Projek Agenda Tersembunyi Mahathir?" (2006) (IC Project, Mahathir's Hidden Agenda?), 007 Lelaki Malaysia Terakhir (2007) (The Last Malaysian).
Another witness was UMNO's Chief Information Officer Karim bin Ghani who was alleged to have written a letter to all UMNO branches in Sabah. The letter purportedly contained directions on the handling of Project IC. Karim claimed that he did not write the letter and that his signature was forged
Forgery
Forgery is the process of making, adapting, or imitating objects, statistics, or documents with the intent to deceive. Copies, studio replicas, and reproductions are not considered forgeries, though they may later become forgeries through knowing and willful misrepresentations. Forging money or...
. The judge however viewed his bare denial with deep suspicion.
The judge presiding the petition, Justice Muhammad Kamil bin Awang, ruled in favour of the petitioner and declared that the 1999 election result for Likas a nullity. He also mentioned in his judgement that he had received instructions over the phone to have the petitions struck out without hearing—an instruction which he dutifully ignored.
In 2007, the former Sandakan
Sandakan
Sandakan is the second-largest city in Sabah, East Malaysia, on the north-eastern coast of Borneo. It is located on the east coast of the island and it is the administrative centre of Sandakan Division and was the former capital of British North Borneo...
district chief Hassnar Ebrahim made a statement confessing being involved in Project IC. He was a former detainee of the Internal Security Act
Internal Security Act (Malaysia)
The Internal Security Act 1960 is a preventive detention law in force in Malaysia. The legislation was enacted after Malaysia gained independence from Britain in 1957. The ISA allows for detention without trial or criminal charges under limited, legally defined circumstances...
in 1998. He also testified in the petition for the annulment of the Likas state assembly district election in 1999. Hassnar had exposed in specific details of the modus operandi of project of which he had witnessed. He mentioned a secret meeting between former Sabah chief minister Harris Salleh and Federal Minister Megat Junid Megat Ayub
Megat Junid Megat Ayub
Tan Sri Megat Junid Bin Megat Ayub was a Malaysian politician and direct descendant of Megat Terawis, a bendahara of Perak.-Politics:...
in Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
. Hassnar claimed that 130,000 illegal immigrants were given ICs in 1985 alone. He also claimed that the aim of the operation was to increase the Muslim population of Sabah.
It has been said that the project was a secret policy of the Barisan Nasional
Barisan Nasional
Barisan Nasional is a major political coalition in Malaysia, formed in 1973 as the successor to the Alliance . Along with its predecessor, it has been Malaysia's federal ruling political force since independence...
(BN) coalition, in particular United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), in order to attain political domination in the state using the votes of these immigrants. The immigrants are picked from those communities which would more closely resemble the Malay
Malaysian Malay
In Malaysia, the Malay population is defined by Article 160 of the Malaysian Constitution as someone born to a Malaysian citizen who professes to be a Muslim, habitually speaks the Malay language, adheres to Malay customs and is domiciled in Malaysia or Singapore...
culture, or those who would most easily be assimilated
Cultural assimilation
Cultural assimilation is a socio-political response to demographic multi-ethnicity that supports or promotes the assimilation of ethnic minorities into the dominant culture. The term assimilation is often used with regard to immigrants and various ethnic groups who have settled in a new land. New...
into Malay culture. Main indicators would be if the immigrants were Muslims and if they speak Malay
Malay language
Malay is a major language of the Austronesian family. It is the official language of Malaysia , Indonesia , Brunei and Singapore...
. It was acknowledged by the judge in the 1999 Likas petition in reference to Ops Gembeling, that the target of the operation were the "Malays of Bugis origin".
In response to a 2007 Parliamentary Select Committee, popular Malaysian news blog Malaysia Today
Malaysia Today
Malaysia Today is a popular Malaysian news blog. It is known for being critical of both the governing Barisan Nasional coalition and opposition parties such as the Democratic Action Party and Parti Keadilan Rakyat. Its founder and chief editor is Raja Petra Kamarudin, a former political detainee...
alleges that UMNO had made a deal with the government of Libya
Libya
Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....
and the Abu Sayyaf
Abu Sayyaf
Abu Sayyaf also known as al-Harakat al-Islamiyya is one of several military Islamist separatist groups based in and around the southern Philippines, in Bangsamoro where for almost 30 years various Muslim groups have been engaged in an insurgency for an independent province in the country...
militant Islamic group in the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
to bring in 1 million new Muslim voters from Philippines into Sabah.
Former Parti Keadilan Rakyat
Parti Keadilan Rakyat
The People's Justice Party , often known simply as KeADILan) is a centrist political party in Malaysia formed in 2003 by a merger of the National Justice Party and the older Malaysian People's Party...
vice president Jeffrey Kitingan
Jeffrey Kitingan
Datuk Dr. Jeffrey Gapari Kitingan is a politician from the state of Sabah in Malaysia. He was born in the town of Kota Marudu and graduated from Harvard University...
alleges that there are 600,000 immigrants with ICs out of an estimated 1.7 million foreigners in Sabah. The estimated population in Sabah in 2006 was 2,997,000. Most of the foreigners in Sabah are from Indonesia and the Philippines.
Government actions
Throughout the 1990s, several government officers were arrested under the Internal Security ActInternal Security Act (Malaysia)
The Internal Security Act 1960 is a preventive detention law in force in Malaysia. The legislation was enacted after Malaysia gained independence from Britain in 1957. The ISA allows for detention without trial or criminal charges under limited, legally defined circumstances...
for their involvements in Project IC. A Parliamentary Select Committee on Integrity was set up to hear testimonies of some of the detainees in February 2007. The committee was chaired by Sabah Member of Parliament Bernard Dompok. On May 16, 2007, Dompok quit as chairman of the committee over disagreements on the function and scope of the committee, in particular, over the refusal of the National Registration Department to appear before the committee. Later on, the findings of the committee was never made public.
In May 2008, Member of Parliament (MP) Lim Kit Siang tabled a motion to set up a Royal Commission
Royal Commission
In Commonwealth realms and other monarchies a Royal Commission is a major ad-hoc formal public inquiry into a defined issue. They have been held in various countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Saudi Arabia...
to investigate the problems relating to illegal immigrants in Sabah. The motion however was rejected by the Deputy Speaker of the Dewan Rakyat
Dewan Rakyat
The Dewan Rakyat is the lower house of the Parliament of Malaysia. All bills must usually be passed by both the Dewan Rakyat and the Dewan Negara , before they are given Royal Assent by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong...
, Ronald Kiandee
Ronald Kiandee
Datuk Ronald Kiandee is a Malaysian politician. He is currently the Member of the Parliament of Malaysia for the Beluran constituency in Sabah, representing the United Malay National Organisation party in the governing Barisan Nasional coalition...
saying that the motion was irrelevant and was tabled at the wrong time. Several MPs from Sabah gave lukewarm response towards the proposed motion preferring instead a Parliamentary Select Committee which would necessitate the involvement of elected MPs, especially from Sabah. Subsequently, Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
Tun Abdullah bin Haji Ahmad Badawi is a Malaysian politician who served as Prime Minister from 2003 to 2009. He was also the President of the United Malays National Organisation , the largest political party in Malaysia, and led the governing Barisan Nasional parliamentary coalition...
announced the setting up of a high powered cabinet committee chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak
Najib Tun Razak
Dato' Sri Haji Mohd Najib bin Tun Haji Abdul Razak is the sixth, and since 2009, Prime Minister of Malaysia. He previously held the post of Deputy Prime Minister from 7 January 2004 until he succeeded Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi as Prime Minister on 3 April 2009. Najib is President of the United...
to resolve this matter. However, senior Sabahan politician Chong Eng Leong argued that similar committees had been set up in 2000 and 2006 without much results. The Consumers Association of Sabah and Labuan (CASH) contends that the announcement of, among others, the setting up of the cabinet committee, was a mere lip service to pacify the people of Sabah.
There has been several government crackdown operation to deport illegal immigrants since the 1990s. The latest crackdown is due to begin in August 2008. These operations will serve to deport immigrants without proper documentations such as ICs or a valid work permit
Work permit
Work permit is a generic term for a legal authorization which allows a person to take employment.It is most often used in reference to instances where a person is given permission to work in a country where one does not hold citizenship, but is also used in reference to minors, who in some...
. It does not serve to address the issue of Project IC.