KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 3 — Kota Kinabalu MP Chan Foong Hin has today questioned the lack of investigation into Sabah MIC chief Peer Mohamad Kadir, who has been accused of obtaining Malaysian citizenship through illegal means.
"I was utterly baffled to have received an answer from the deputy home minister Jonathan Yassin in Parliament's second chambers last Thursday that the National Registration Department had received no official report being lodged whatsoever against Peer Mohamad Kadir despite all the hoo-ha early this year," Chan said in a press conference here.
The DAP MP said that even if there might not be official police reports lodged on the matter, there is allegedly already enough evidence in the public domain on the matter.
"Is the deputy minister saying that the report clearly stating the evidence given during the enquiry, given under oath, is nothing but mere puff which can be swept under the carpet and ignored?" he asked.
Chan also called on Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) president Datuk Seri Maximus Ongkili to reveal the police report that he said was made earlier in January.
"This is to show that they were serious in their call for authorities to investigate and take action against those who have obtained their IC through illegal methods, or were they just engaging in 'wayang kulit'," he said, using the Malay term for a puppet theatre.
The lawmaker also added that Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor, who is the chairman of the ruling Gabungan Rakyat Sabah there, previously made a promise to look into the matter, but has not given the public any updates on the investigation.
"Peer himself did not issue any statement distancing himself from the RCI and still roams free in Sabah," he said.
In January, activist groups in Sabah questioned the identity of Sabah MIC chief Peer Mohamad Kadir, who allegedly shares the same name as an individual from India who entered the state in 1984, and was a witness in the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on illegal immigration in Sabah in 2013.
The individual, who was the 116th witness in the RCI, confessed to obtaining a Malaysian identity card through dubious means allegedly with the help of an uncle, after coming to Sabah in 1984 from Chennai, India.
The groups called for the state government to provide clarification as the man with this name was also among those who claimed that he had obtained a Malaysian identity card through illegitimate means.
Peer has yet to comment on the issue.
