Two foremost campaigners against the issuance of Malaysian identity cards to illegal immigrants have urged the king to form a royal commission to look into the matter.

The one-paged memorandum was signed by Human Development Foundation president Dr Jeffery Kitingan and Consumer Association of Sabah and Labuan president Patrick Sindu.

The memorandum urged the king to form a royal commission to investigate and resolve the following:

Citizenship and identity cards being granted to foreigners illegally
Granting permanent residency to IMM 13 document holders
Granting of Malaysian passports to those who obtained citizenship illegally

The memorandum was received by the private secretary to the king this afternoon at Istana Negara in Kuala Lumpur today.

Speaking to malaysiakini after handing the memorandum, Jeffrey said based on information in the memorandum, he hope the king will instruct relevant authorities to tackle the problem.

"We are going to monitor action taken by the government. If they are serious, they will do something about this," said Jeffrey, a veteran Sabahan politician.

Sindu said the sentiments expressed in the memorandum was endorsed by nearly 100,000 Sabahan's in the consumer group's signature campaign last year.

A similar memorandum would be handed to Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and the Parliamentary Select Committee on Integrity soon.

Another police report lodged

It is alleged that there are 1.7 million foreigners in Sabah, including 600,000 with identification cards issued under 'Project M' or 'Project IC', compared to 1.5 million genuine locals.

These illegal identity card holders are were alleged used added into Sabah's electoral roll while others have warned of a possible 'reverse takeover' by foreigners.

At least one Filipino man has publicly admitted that he was a beneficiary of the clandestine scheme.

Earlier today, Jeffrey lodged a police report on the matter at the Bukit Aman national police headquarters.

"We feel that if this problem is not resolved, it would negatively affect our country and its sovereignty [...] these people can become party leaders and they can take over Sabah by sheer numbers alone," he told reporters.

Asked if the police had updated him on the progress of investigations on allegations about 'Project M', Jeffrey said there was none.

"We expected the police to brief us on the progress, but the Inspector-General of Police was not around, nor was his deputy," he said, adding that evidence was also provided for the police to expedite investigations.