– The Malaysian Insider
September 11, 2013
Raise your hand if you expected Dr Mahathir Mohamad to have a conscience attack and blame himself and the Barisan Nasional (BN) government for Project IC – that not-so-secret initiative to hand identity cards to thousands of illegal immigrants in Sabah.
Well, if you didn’t raise your hand, you are in good company because the former prime minister does not do well before a Royal Commission of Inquiry.
He had an acute case of amnesia when he appeared before the commission looking into the V. K. Lingam video clip in 2007 and there was every chance that he was going to hit the didn’t-do-it can’t remember-it mode today.
Why? Because the former prime minister does not lose sleep just because millions think he is being charitable with the truth. In his own perverse way, he must always come out on top.
So, going before the RCI in Kota Kinabalu and sticking to his own story, no matter how ridiculous it is, is a win in his eyes.
So let us play along with the Dr Mahathir storyline. He said the government was not responsible for immigrants being given ICs illegally.
And his explanation: “These illegal immigrants may have been issued the identity cards erroneously or it may have been the wrongdoing of certain low-ranking civil servants.”
So, according to Dr Mahathir, thousands upon thousands of ICs were accidentally given to Suluks and other illegal immigrants from The Philippines. And this was either through the negligence or crooked ways of some clerk in a government department.
And while this was happening, should we also assume that the bigwigs at the National Registration Department and police were comatose?
Using Dr Mahathir’s logic, no blame should accrue to the BN government for anything. Because it is either an accident or the fault of a low-level civil servant.
There is no duty of care for a minister, deputy minister, parliamentary secretary or senator to ensure that a ministry or government agency runs efficiently and is not a nest of corruption. None whatsoever.
So using Dr Mahathir’s logic, we can also say NO ONE should blame the government for:
* the spike in crime. The failure of the police to do their job rests solely with the cops, not with the Home Minister or Prime Minister.
* inflated contracts and one-sided privatisation projects. The failure rests with the civil servants at the Economic Planning Unit, and not with the ministers who endorsed and lobbied for the project to be pushed through. Or for the Umno politician who was awarded the contract for loyalty to the party.
* for appointing an unqualified person to be the ambassador to Indonesia. Blame the foreign service official who acted beyond his pay grade and picked the least likeliest candidate in Malaysia for the prestigious job.
With Dr Mahathir and his ilk, it is always the same story: it is someone else’s fault. Even with a mountain of evidence, it is always someone else’s fault. – September 11, 2013.
#1 by boh-liao on Thursday, 12 September 2013 - 2:25 am
As expected, he declared shamelessly he did not know or remember of such thing happened
Not his fault, not UmnoB’s fault such thing happened
#2 by Noble House on Thursday, 12 September 2013 - 5:31 am
The usual show of arrogance with his tongue in cheek replies. He knows there is nothing the RCI can do much less to hold him responsible for the mess in Sabah.
Sabah is as good as sold – lock, stock and barrel!
#3 by Bigjoe on Thursday, 12 September 2013 - 7:37 am
Its clear he is lying and its clear he committed treason.
But the real significant thing he said was, after all the denial, all the smirk excuses, he said “they have been there a long time and speak Bahasa Malaysia and deserve to be citizen” – these words were actually also the first words he uttered when the whole RCI was formed. – ITS REALLY THE CORE OF HIS EXCUSES which he self-righteously decided and damn everyone else. He has always been and still is a loose cannon – and Sabah got shot full-frontal and full blast.
Mahathir deserved to be hanged. The real question is what kind of country are we, we don’t when we really already know..
#4 by yhsiew on Thursday, 12 September 2013 - 8:37 am
Dr Mahathir can fly 100 national flags on next Merdeka Day to prove his patriotism to the country.
#5 by 1elderly voter on Thursday, 12 September 2013 - 10:15 am
DID THAT MAMAKKUTTY SWEAR ON THE HOLY KORAN, OR DID HE USE A BIBLE!!!
#6 by bumiborn on Thursday, 12 September 2013 - 10:34 am
Is our Judicial System so lame as to succumb to and nose lead by this traitor Dr M?
#7 by boh-liao on Thursday, 12 September 2013 - 10:46 am
How abt making a movie (with UmnoB gomen’s $$) on dis – entitled “TREASONOUS ACTS of MMK” more damaging than pissing on flagpole
Or, The Big Fat Embezzler Who Stole Sabah N Impoverished True Sabahans
#8 by lee tai king (previously dagen) on Thursday, 12 September 2013 - 11:35 am
Hoi. You stupid fool!
I know. You are trying to be clever. Funny, even. And I know you hate monsterO’mamak as much as we do.
But the issue is settled, idiot. So lets not backpaddle. Do not let the monster backpaddle.
MonsterO’mamak admitted that he was responsible for project ic. There is no need for you to ask for public opinion on whether he was or was not responsible for project ic. MonsterO’mamak openly admitted that he was responsible and his admission was widely reported in the media. And being a monster, he argued that his actions were legal by drawing a comparison with what the founding leaders did during merdeka (i.e. giving citizenship to chinese and indians etc).
#9 by silat88 on Friday, 13 September 2013 - 3:51 pm
interesting that the Mad Doctor blames it on low level government officials or it was erroneously issued but only to Moslems, wat a coincidence. no filipino christians nor indonesian christians were deemed acceptable. all the years i visited KK, you could see the Mad doctor killing the Kadazans slowly but surely with no monies flowing in for development since in those days Sabah was the only state runned by an elected opposition albeit BUMIS but not Moslems.
wat will the RCI do ? another whitewash. There is no hope there, never was, never will UNTIL these crooks are brought to justice. Developed nation status dream on.
#10 by on cheng on Monday, 16 September 2013 - 3:33 pm
So if a head of govt don’t know when so many ic (tens of thousands) issued, AND NONE OF LOWER RANKS OFFICIALS EVER BEEN CHARGED , THEN THAT GUY is not doing his job, BIG FAILURE !!