It's an open secret - the number of foreigners in Sabah far exceeded the locals in a span of a few short years. How did it happened?

Former senator Dr Chong Eng Leong was blunt when he made his submission to the parliamentary select committee on integrity yesterday at the Sabah State Assembly.

Chong, who is a supreme council member of Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS), alleged that the extraordinary population increase in Sabah was caused by the deliberate issuance of Malaysian identity cards (ICs) to foreigners under the secret 'Project Mahathir' or 'Project IC'.

As a result, there are around 1.75 million foreigners in Sabah today, including those in possession of Project Mahathir's ICs, as compared to 1.5 million genuine locals in Sabah.

Chong mentioned that hundreds of thousands of false ICs already in the hands of foreigners who are proclaiming themselves not only Malaysians, but bumiputeras having all the privileges and rights of Customary Native Rights in Sabah.

The ex-senator said that according to the 1999 electoral rolls, there were about 150,000 Sabah-born registered voters who were born between 1952 and 1960.

However, the Sabah Statistics Department stated that the state's population in 1951 was 334,141 and in 1960, 454,421 - an increase of 120,000.

If an estimated 80 percent of the population registered as voters, there would only be about 100,000 Sabah-born voters during this period, argued Chong.

That would mean that about a whopping one-third, or 50,000, of Sabah registered voters were foreigners.

Chong said that the foreigners, who are mostly from the southern Philippines, were issued with ICs through falsified Sijil Akuan (statutory declaration) under Project Mahathir.

He said that a secret meeting was held in Kuala Lumpur to discuss the project, which was attended by, among others, then deputy home minister Megat Junid Megat Ayub and chief secretary to the government, Ahmad Sarji.

Ahmad was said to oppose the plan, however he was told that Mahathir had already given his approval.

Kit Siang: Serious allegations

Opposition leader Lim Kit Siang - who is a member of the select committee headed by Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Bernard Dompok - was not amused by the shocking revelations.

In an immediate response today, he urged Dr Mahathir Mohamad to appear before the select committee to answer questions on this secret project.

"These are very serious allegations which Mahathir cannot allow to stand in the public domain uncontradicted or unclarified," said Lim.

Dompok said that the committee - which holding public inquiries nationwide - will meet all the relevant authorities to check the veracity of Chong's claims.

He said that the committee findings will be submitted to Parliament in two years.
In recognition of the problem, two groups have separately launched campaigns early this year with diverging aims on the matter.

Yayasan Islam Sabah, led by former chief minister Harris Salleh, has organised a signature drive to get the federal authorities to acknowledge as valid the surat akuan (statutory declaration) used by these foreigners to obtain ICs and citizenship.

On the other hand, a group of prominent activists and non-governmental organisations who call themselves the Patriotic Citizens Forum on Identity Cards (Pacific) announced its plan to launch a signature campaign for the formation of the royal commission to investigate the issue.


Special reports

Strangers in their own land
Problem that will not go away