Putra Jaya: The granting of citizenship to immigrants before independence and immigrants of Sabah are two different issues and should be treated differently, said United Pasok Momogun Kadazandusun Organisation (Upko) President, Tan Sri Bernard Dompok.The Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities said he could not find any similarity between the two issues and it would not be correct if the two matters were put on the same plate.
"The decision to allow one million immigrants in 1957 was part and parcel of building a nation and to draft a constitution. They were already here at that time together with everybody else.
"The immigrants in Sabah, came at a time when Malaysia was already formed and because we have not protected our borders that they came.
So, I think it should be treated differently," he said.
Dompok was asked to comment on former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad's suggestion to set up a Royal Commission of Inquiry to investigate the granting of citizenship to one million foreign immigrants in the Federation of Malaya before it gained independence, after he was criticised for granting citizenship to 200,000 foreign immigrants in Sabah.
Dr Mahathir had before that admitted that during his tenure, he had given citizenship to Filipino refugees in Sabah who were able to meet all the requirements.
MCA also disagreed with Dr Mahathir pointing out that they had been distributed via consensus among the country's forefathers at the time.
"I read Dr M's statement, I don't know if he said it seriously or in jest.
Why should there be a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) when it was given by consensus? The Government gave citizenships to those who were legally entitled," said MCA President Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek.
Dr Chua pointed out that the pre-independence citizenships had been granted only via mutual understanding among all three component parties in the Alliance.
He noted that all those who were residing in the Federation of Malaya at the time, regardless whether they were Bumiputeras, Malays, Chinese or Indians, had contributed equally to the nation's struggle for independence.
Dr Chua named DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang as an example of an individual who had benefited from this distribution of citizenships.
"So I think, in this respect, the opposition must also admit that they obtained their citizenships through this process as well," he said.
Dr Chua also urged all parties not to pre-empt any conclusion from the ongoing Sabah RCI on the state's illegals issue, pointing out that the royal panel will be interviewing over 160 witnesses.
He noted that there have been few testimonies so far that have cast the Barisan Nasional (BN) government in a negative light but said this was merely the beginning of the hearing.
"Let the RCI finish its job before drawing any conclusion.
The RCI should not be used as a reason to overthrow the Government.
"We should congratulate the Prime Minister for his bravery, for facing up to this problem after so many years. He inherited this issue and he agreed to resolve it... if there is anything to hide, then he would not have set up the RCI, correct?" Dr Chua said.
Over a five-day hearing session last week, the RCI panel heard testimonies from former top civil servants that illegal immigrants had been given documents to enable them to vote in the 1994 Sabah election.
Dr Mahathir had last week said that he has not been subpoenaed by the RCI panel, but is willing to testify if required to do so.
The five-man RCI panel chaired by former Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Tan Sri Steve Shim Lip Kiong will resume the inquiry on January 29.
