Parti Kerjasama Anak Negeri (Anak Negeri) president Henrynus Amin said Harris’ statement, which openly attempted to justify and advocate the issuance of 1MM13 documents, granting of permanent stay status and eventually, citizenship, to Muslim Filipino immigrants, was an “act of betrayal and treachery”.
He said he was reminded of Harris’ infamous claim in a book and threats he made soon after he was voted out of power in 1976 where the former chief minister said he could easily change the status of all the illegal immigrants in Sabah and make them new citizens.
The Yayasan Islam chairman’s bold claim in the book and his recent statement may reveal his true agenda in pursuing political objectives which were detrimental to the security of Sabah as a sovereign state within Malaysia, Henrynus said.
He said the public still remembered the outcome of the royal commission of inquiry (RCI) hearings on illegal immigrants and fraudulent identity cards (ICs).
“This exposed a menacing conspiracy possibly linked to Harris, other federal politicians, certain government officials and illegal syndicates, deeply embedded within government departments and agencies, to issue citizenship documents to Muslim illegal immigrants,” Henrynus added.
Parti Cinta Sabah president Wilfred Bumburing yesterday urged the government to reject Harris’ proposal for the legalisation of all refugees and stateless persons in Sabah.
He said Harris was ignoring the constitutionality of his suggestion and its potential violation of the Malaysia Agreement 1963.
Henrynus contended that the revelation by government officials, giving evidence during the RCI hearing on how citizenship was issued fraudulently to Muslim-only illegal immigrants, shed light on the alleged conspiracy to change the political demographics of the state.
”It was an established fact that there was an attempt to subvert the then PBS government that was accused by its detractors of being ‘Christian’ and therefore distrusted by Harris and the then federal leadership.”
Henrynus also called on Deputy Chief Minister Wilfred Madius Tangau to reconsider Upko’s position as well as question the role played by Warisan leaders, in particular Deputy Home Minister Azis Jamman, on the issuance of the 1MM13 documents to foreigners in Sabah.
He said Tangau should ask Chief Minister Shafie Apdal “on why he pretended not to know anything about the issuance of 1MM13 to Filipino illegal immigrants when in fact he is the chairman of the state security committee”.
“Will Tangau accept the apparent insult to Upko and himself when the chief minister, during Upko’s triennial general meeting, purportedly expressed shock and pretended he did not know about the issuance of 1MM13?”
Henrynus also alleged there was a perception on the ground that Shafie was treating Upko leaders “like pathetic fools who could be easily taken for a ride”.