More ‘Project IC’ rumours quashed
SANDAKAN: Rumours of another ‘Project IC’ exercise to issue MyKads to illegal immigrants in Sandakan and Tawau were shot down by Parti Warsian Sabah leaders.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law) and permanent chairman of Warisan, Datuk Liew Vui Keong, has denied rumours that the Batu Sapi Rakyat Mobile Service Centre that he set up is connected to ‘Project IC’.
“We have no right or power to process applications for MyKads. What happened is only that those who have applied for MyKad years before had approached us to check the status of their citizenship.
“Also red MyKad holders (permanent residents), who are aged 60 and above, can change their MyKad to the local blue MyKad. This is what Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad had directed us to do.
“So, it is not true that we are processing application for MyKad. My ministry does not have the power to do that. Hence, any fake news spread on the social media about Project IC is not true. I will lodge a police report against anyone found spreading these fake news and information,” he said.
For the past couple of weeks, photos of hundreds of people lining up in front of the Batu Sapi parliamentary office at Taman Vesta here were uploaded on social media, causing a lot of people to assume that the people were there to apply for MyKad.
Liew, who is also Batu Sapi member of parliament, said that the mobile centre was set up so that he could get closer to the rakyat and to make it more convenient for the locals to meet him and his personnel to address their issues and problems.
He said the centre had locals meeting him and his personnel to raise issues about citizenship application status, cleanliness of town, and other problems that are faced by the locals.
Warisan has also dismissed allegations that the party is conducting an exercise in Tawau district to help people whose MyKad or citizenship applications have been delayed.
Its secretary-general, Loretto Padua Jr, made the denial following the photo of a banner containing the state government’s emblem and Warisan’s logo has gone viral.
According to the banner, Warisan, through its Kampung Titingan branch which is under the Apas division, was setting up a service centre yesterday for the party to assist people who have encountered problems pertaining to their identity card, citizenship and late birth registration applications.
“I checked and there is no such programme. The headquarters never consented to such a programme,” Padua told a news portal yesterday.
“We will investigate and find out more and will lodge a police report if necessary,” he said, hinting it was easy for anyone to come up with fake items such as banners and photos these days.
Meanwhile, Warisan’s former candidate for Apas, Abdul Salip Ejal, has denied any involvement in putting up a banner about a ‘Program Khidmat Rakyat’ organised by the party at SMK Titingan.
Abdul Salip claims that it is the work of irresponsible quarters in their attempt to tarnish his name and the image of Parti Warisan Sabah.
He has lodged a police report on the matter and instructed party members in Apas to immediately remove the banner so that the people are not fooled by it.
“I have never made any order or instructed for such banner to be made. The same goes for Parti Warisan Sabah,” he said in a statement here yesterday.
Warisan had also before denied that it was in any way involved or had been issuing forms for the registration of identity cards or applications of citizenship.
Its executive secretary, Arifin Asgali, had said the party had no authority on matters related to the issuance of identity cards or citizenship.
Arifin, who is also the assistant minister in the Chief Minister’s Department, pointed out that even the National Registration Department and Sabah state government had no authority to issue identity cards or grant citizenship.
The Rural Development Ministry had also previously denied allegations that it was involved in data collection to launch another Projek IC after an image of a letter from the ministry seeking information on remote villages and islands went viral.