The Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) Deputy President, Azmin Ali has called former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad a traitor to the country following revelations at the Sabah Royal Commission of Inquiry on illegal immigrants (RCIII) of “citizenship-for-votes” schemes in Sabah in the nineties.
Yesterday, several former National Registration Department (NRD) officers told the RCI in Kota Kinabalu that they were instructed to facilitate immigrants to vote during the 1990s and help install a BN-friendly state government.
These operations ranged from issuing identity card (IC) receipts of existing voters to immigrants to issuing blue identity cards to unqualified immigrants – also known as Project IC or Project M where “M” stood for Mahathir.
Two of Mahathir’s closest confidantes and right-hand men at the time have been implicated by witnesses before the RCI in the citizenship-for-votes scam in Sabah – the late Megat Junid Megat Ayub, Deputy Home Minister to Mahathir, who was also Home Minister and Aziz Shamsuddin, Mahathir political secretary. Megat Junid went on to become Minister for Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs while Aziz Shamsuddin later joined the Cabinet as Minister of Rural and Regional Development.
If the Project IC or Project M allegations of “IC receipts-for votes” and “citizenship-for-votes” made at the RCIII are true, and there are no reasons to suspect their truth and veracity as these have become open secrets in Sabah, not only in the 2001 judgment by Justice Datuk Muhammad Kamil Awang in the election petition nullifying the Likas state assembly election result in 1999 because of the existence of thousands of dubious “phantom” names in the electoral roll, but confessions in the public domain by former Sabah UMNO officials and government servants involved in the scam, people like Mutalib Mohd Daud, Karim bin Ghani and Hassnar Ebrahim, then the capital crimes of treason had been committed.
Azmin has raised a very apt and pertinent question – was former Prime Minister, Tun Mahathir guilty of treason in the “IC receipts-for-votes” and “citizenship-for-votes” scams in Project IC or Project M in Sabah in the nineties.
Furthermore, were his two lieutenants who later became Cabinet Ministers, Megat Junid and Aziz Shamsuddin, also guilty of treason for their involvement in the “IC receipts-for-votes” and “citizenship-for-votes” scams in Sabah?
Mahathir should forever shut up if he is not prepared to volunteer to appear before the Sabah RCIII to clear allegations that he was a traitor for giving ICs and voting rights to foreigners just to shore up UMNO’s political power and to speak up to clear the names of Megat Junid and Aziz Shamsuddin.
#1 by Godfather on Thursday, 17 January 2013 - 4:07 pm
UMNO has already started their spin….see, we are transparent, we are fulfilling our promises….Bijan can be trusted because he promised change. Then, when the recommendations from the RCI are revealed, they will just ignore the recommendations. They have already attempted to delay the commencement of the RCI, so someone should ask Rahman Dahlan and other UMNO leaders what is there for the rakyat to be so grateful about ?
#2 by gofortruth on Thursday, 17 January 2013 - 4:26 pm
M will say I can’t remember anything of that sort, don’t frame me, I’m a poor old man.
#3 by Dap man on Thursday, 17 January 2013 - 4:29 pm
Mahathir is a compulsive liar. He will deny wholsale and may even put the blame on Anwar.
#4 by gofortruth on Thursday, 17 January 2013 - 4:29 pm
This is treason. A serious breach on our national security.
After Mahathir, are the others still doing the same thing here in West Malaysia even up to today???
#5 by sotong on Thursday, 17 January 2013 - 4:38 pm
National security is significantly compromised by huge population of illegals with ICs without proper check on their history, including criminal records.
All traitors, directly or indirectly involved, must be dealt with to the full extent of the law.
#6 by ENDANGERED HORNBILL on Thursday, 17 January 2013 - 4:46 pm
Tun M:
Elegant silence.
Selective amnesia.
Ku Li, was that how this Tun beat you @ the UMNO elections?
You simply cannot trust Mahathir.
And he took the country for a joyride for 22+ years.
#7 by ENDANGERED HORNBILL on Thursday, 17 January 2013 - 4:52 pm
Once proven, treason it is!
Can you sugar-coat treason and call it by any other name:”citizenship for votes”?
Call a skunk by any other name, it would smell as bad.
What’s the penalty for treason?
#8 by Bigjoe on Thursday, 17 January 2013 - 5:17 pm
Mahathir will either give some amnesic reason or excuses like those given IC were legitimate refugees.
It was covert subversion of Sabahan soverignty. Over the years we have heard lines like “chinese are squatters”, “UMNO chosen by god for chosen Malay” “follow example of Nazi German not giving banking license to Jews”, and of course the recent “Listen, Listen, listen” tirade – they wanted to BECOME those most hated..
Its criminal hate and its treason..
#9 by gofortruth on Thursday, 17 January 2013 - 5:17 pm
Mahathir:- Its not within my knwoledge of such project, but if Megat Junid carried out the order, go after him la, correct?
#10 by gofortruth on Thursday, 17 January 2013 - 5:24 pm
Sabahan all Sabahan, if you don’t correct this grievous wrong done to you by devilous BN by voting them out in GE13, I don’t knwo what to say about you la…..
Sabahan, rise up and protect your land!!!!!
#11 by cseng on Thursday, 17 January 2013 - 5:58 pm
Before the epic battle next GE the 13… epic clashes of the Umno titans on show first.
How could such nonsense sneaked out from the decade old carpet in the first place? Who is silencing who and what for?
If that secret been kept for a decade, why it exploded at 11hrs? something is missing… anyway, traitor must be hung 3 times.
#12 by NotBN on Thursday, 17 January 2013 - 6:07 pm
It is public knowledge that the Malaysian Navy (patrolling the Sulu seas and as late as 1990s) was instructed to turn a blind eye on the ‘refugee’ boats ferrying illegal immigrants to/fro southern Philippines and Sabah. Perhaps navy personnel on duty then can bear witness?
#13 by gofortruth on Thursday, 17 January 2013 - 6:11 pm
Why all these “revelations” of late? The carpetman show, now “Project IC” extravaganza all seem to point toward something very fishy. Is BN scheming to cook up a storm & hence play yet another card, create a state of emergency & continue to call their shots by hiding behind “Military rule”‘s curtain?
Are the top top guns in the military UMNO’s planted YESmen???
#14 by gofortruth on Thursday, 17 January 2013 - 7:13 pm
See how he wiggled himself :-
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/dr-m-admits-citizenships-given-out-in-sabah-says-nothing-illegal/
#15 by john on Thursday, 17 January 2013 - 7:23 pm
Even without RCI, the evidences have been all there, all these while – the sudden ‘weird’ population exploision, real large numbers of immigrants with MyCard in our vincinity daily, availability electorate records to verify anytime,,,
BUT WHAT ACTIONS – NONE ! THE SABAHANS AND SARAWAKIANS MUST KICK-OUT THEIR ‘LEADERS’ ( ACTUALLY TRAITORS, ALL GOOD FOR NOTHING ! ) JUST ON THIS ENOUGH REASON ! WELL, BESIDES THOSE UMNO/bn PLUNDERERS ALSO !
This RCI will end up like others RCI, mainly to serve someone’s SANDIWARA wasting public resources. ABU IS THE ONLY WAY !!!!!!!
#16 by PRmaju on Thursday, 17 January 2013 - 7:37 pm
The one who has done highest crime to the country, i.e., treason was bestowed the highest honor of the country, only in Bodohland!
#17 by yhsiew on Thursday, 17 January 2013 - 7:48 pm
Now the old fox claims citizenship was given to the Filipinos legally.
#18 by good coolie on Thursday, 17 January 2013 - 10:57 pm
Dr. Mahatir says project IC is legal. Why was a masked robber carrying a bag in a house in the middle of the night in Sabah. What was the reason for the secrecy at that time? Why the denials? I tell you, the good doctor thinks that Malaysians, especially the poor Sabahans, are unintelligent.
Sabah should teach Dr. M a lesson.
#19 by sheriff singh on Thursday, 17 January 2013 - 11:14 pm
Mahathir was not involved. No evidence. Gunny Pthooi will confirm it.
All Mahathir did was to ‘wink, wink’, shake his head like a Keralan, and his wishes was done by his lackeys.
You got hard evidence to link him directly to Project M, N or O?
All he has to do is just do an elegant silence.
#20 by sheriff singh on Thursday, 17 January 2013 - 11:16 pm
Now we know why Najib ‘transformed’ the ISA.
#21 by Bigjoe on Friday, 18 January 2013 - 12:00 pm
EVEN BEFORE this is done, WE NEED TO URGENTLY HAVE AN RCI ON ALTANTUYA & SCORPENE CASE now that Najib has responded to Deepak’s Allegation..
Najib may have just LIED AS HOLDER OF THE OFFICE OF PM – an IMPEACHEABLE OFFENCE.. An RCI MUST BE HELD TO PROTECT THE INTEGRITY OF THE PM’S OFFICE..