KOTA KINABALU, Jan 18 — Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor has promised to investigate claims that a Sabah MIC chairman, who was appointed to the board of the state-linked Sawit Kinabalu, was originally a migrant who obtained Malaysian citizenship through questionable means.
Hajiji, when asked to comment during a press conference, said he had only heard about the allegations through social media but said he would order a check on the matter.
“I also have no further details, but the name mentioned that we appointed as Sawit Kinabalu board member is an MIC chairman, a Barisan Nasional component member. We will investigate this matter,” he said during a press conference here today.
“I also found out through social media so I will check.”
Last weekend, 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 a 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.
