With the Sabah Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) into illegal immigrants beginning its second week of public hearings tomorrow, the question posed by the former Kuala Lumpur CID chief Datuk Mat Zain Ibrahim deserves attention – whether the RCI would prove to be “an exercise in futility” as it is merely intended as a whitewash and a “sandiwara” by the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and the Attorney-General Tan Sri Gani Patail to suppress the truth in the “citizenship-for-votes” scandals in the Land Below the Wind?
None of the RCI’s eight terms of reference is directed to identity those responsible for the treacherous acts against the country or for the RCI to propose any action to be taken on those responsible.
So far, there has no response to Mat Zain’s call on the Inspector-General of Police to open investigation papers following the revelations in the RCI that the late Megat Junid Megat Ayob and Abdul Aziz Shamsuddin were involved in Ops Durian Buruk, as they involved betrayal and acts of treason of the highest order.
Citing his own case in June 2000, when he was heading the KL CID, Mat Zain said the police initiated investigations against the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir immediately after Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim lodged a report on the day the former director-general of the Anti-Corruption Agency, Shafee Yahaya, gave his evidence during a civil trial, citing the then PM for abuse of power for closing its probe on former Economic Planning Unit director-general Ali Abul Hassan.
Mat Zain said: “What I intend to emphasise here is that police investigations commenced immediately in that instance, without having to wait for the trial to be over or for a decision to be made by the court.
“Similarly, in the revelations made during the current Sabah RCI, the IGP need not wait for any clearance from anybody to investigate the matter.
“In fact, he should have simultaneously announced what the police intend to do once the information was made public.”
Mat Zain said: “Now that former Sabah National Registration Department director, Ramli Kamaruddin and former Tamparuli NRD chief Yakup Damsah have implicated the late Megat Junid and Abdul Aziz, both known as Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s right-hand men then, and also the revelation of Ops Durian Buruk between 1992-1995 by Mohd Nasir Sugip, police must commence full scale investigations.
‘The police need not wait for the RCI to be over or for the RCI report to be completed. The police need not wait for anyone to lodge a police report before making their move. The police can and must act on their own motion. The revelations made are too devastating to stomach.
“These are cheating, betrayal and acts of treason of the highest order that have threatened national security and our sovereignty.”
Mat Zain posed the question whether the lack of police action on the revelations of the Sabah RCI about the crimes of cheating, betrayal and treason is because of the joint intention by Najib and Gani to protect the real traitor involved in Ops Durian Buruk and the “citizenship-for-votes” scandals.
Mat Zain asked whether the witnesses who had given “sensational testimonies” and who are actually accomplices of a crime had been given assurances and protection that action would not be taken against them in court or they would not have been brave enough to make the startling revelations without fear of being prosecuted or sent back to their countries.
Is Mat Zain right when he said: “What we are seeing is the beginning of a drama, with Gani playing his role like he did in the black-eye RCI, the VK Lingam RCI and Teoh Beng Hock RCI.”
Sabahans and Malaysians will be looking for answers to these questions by Mat Zain with the resumption of the Sabah RCI public hearings tomorrow.