WONG URGED THE GOVERNMENT SOLVED THE IMMIGRANT PROBLEM

Written by Admin

Monday March 31. 2014

BY DAP STAFF 

STATEMENT FROM SANDAKAN  MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT

The release of the final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Sabah's illegal immigrant situation has been once again delayed, to May this time, according to the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim.

The Minister reported the new delay to the Parliament this afternoon, during the debate of the Motion of Thanks to the Speech of the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong.

Stephen Wong Tien Fatt, Member of Parliament for Sandakan from DAP, pointed out that the previously promised deadline was March 21. He questioned the reasons for the repeated delays and urged the Minister to ensure that there would be no more postponement.

The Minister informed the Dewan that the final report was more or less ready, but that the panel members still needed to “polish it up” a little bit before submitting it to the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong. Therefore, he asked for patience.

However, the Minister was unable to confirm to Wong about the exact deadline, which he claimed to have forgotten, but that he had already read out earlier during his speech while his voice was drown out by the noise of the other Members of Parliament who were shouting at him and each other at that time.

Wong, in a statement issued later, said that he and his Sabah DAP colleagues are very frustrated with the repeated delays in the release of the RCI report. Many concerned Sabahans (including Dr Chong Eng Leong) have also contacted him and Jimmy Wong Tze Phin, the MP for Kota Kinabalu, to inquire about the delays.

The RCI, which was announced by Prime Minister on 1 June 2012, began its public hearings on 14 January 2013. The original deadline was 21 March 2013, which was subsequently extended to 21 September 2013, 21 December 2013, and then to 21 March 2014.

“At the beginning, the PM had promised that the RCI would be completed before the last general election. Now, it has been delayed 4 times. I hope that the government understands that the RCI is very important to the people of Sabah, and there will be no cover-up. DAP will continue to fight for the wrongdoers to be held accountable, and for justice to be done for Sabah. We owe it to history and our future generations,” said Wong