Immigrants are welcome to MY as long as they can & are willing to speak Bahasa Melayu

"There is a time wasting Royal Commission of Inquiry going on in Sabah about the Minadanaos and Moros being given citizenship.

Lim Kit Siang is making a big issue about the Moros and Mindanaos being given citizenship in Sabah. Lim Kit Siang is born of immigrants as well. Now he is questioning why other immigrants are being given citizenship. Thats how it comes across. 

Allow me to irritate our other immigrant citizenry : would it be too out of place to suggest that we have a Royal Commission of Inquiry to investigate why 1.0 million immigrants (mostly Chinese and Indians) were given citizenship in Malaya in the 1950s? 

I mean surely there must be at least five million Malays on the Peninsula today who may be wondering why or how that particular incident happened? Were they consulted? Was there a public referendum?

Is this a fair request? Or its not fair? Lets not argue about the fairness. Lets have a RCI first on the issue - how and why 1.0 million Chinese and Indians (including my mamak gang of course) were given citizenship" 

Syed Akbar Ali blog

Yes, the Sabah RCI is ongoing, so really there is not much we can do but wait for the Commission to meet and interview all the witnesses to be called by the RCI after which the RCI will make a report to the DYMM Yang DiPertuan Agung. I hope the outcome will be made public and really we must thank the Najib led BN Gomen for making the RCI possible, its about time that the Sabah Immigrant issue be laid out bare to the public.

Welcome to the globalised world friends, where people migrate to different countries for any reasons under the sun, and its a daily affair, nothing unusual except  perhaps for Malaysia's very narrow minded Opposition who thinks its about voting in the BN in numbers during election. Nothing unusual about that too as the Pakatan Opposition thrives on hate and incitement. 

Personally, I am OK with immigrants coming to this country and be given  Malaysian citizenship as long as they can and are willing to speak Bahasa Melayu and fulfill the citizenship criteria set by our Laws [read], anybody is welcome.

Bad people coming into this country? No problem, On becoming a Malaysian citizen they are subjected to Malaysian Laws and if they break the law they get fined or get sent to jail. Simple as that.

To my Malaysian friends who are not happy about immigrants becoming Malaysian citizens because they would vote for BN...I tell you this...there is no guarantee that those folks will tick BN candidate at the ballot boxes. Generally people will vote for the best candidate/party that will look after their interest, this is a fair country lah. Remember the 1 million Chinese and Indians immigrants who were granted citizenships by Malaysia 1st PM, Tunku Abdul Rahman, well, there are no guarantees that these citizens of Malaysia and their Malaysian children will vote for BN kan? Fair is fairlah people.

Hey, Our population is only about 28 million people, we should go for 70 million people there are plenty of space and prosperity to be shared around in this great blessed country called Malaysia.

Blogger Dato' RockyBru have a very interesting post, read his blog: "RCI Sabah Pendatang Dulu, Pendatang Sekarang" which literally means RCI Sabah, Immigrants then, Immigrants now. 

and 

Blogger OutSyedTheBox: Alamak they were ISA detainees.

I like what was reported by Agenda Daily on how Tun M replied to the early disclosures in the Sabah RCI:

Pengkhianat: Ini jawapan Dr Mahathir.

Dalam sidang media selepas wacana di Karang Kraf Shah Alam pada petang Khamis, Dr Mahathir berkata pembangkang boleh tuduh beliau apa saja termasuk pengkhianat tetapi semua yang dilakukan berdasarkan undang-undang.

"itu tak jadi masalah kerana dituduh (pengkhianat) oleh ramai orang. Tapi ada juga yang puji,"ujar beliau.

Beliau berkata demikian ketika mengulas mengenai dakwaan bekas Pengarah Jabatan Pendaftaran Negara (JPN) Sabah, Ramli Kamarudin bahawa kerajaan pada ketika itu terlibat memberikan kad pengenalan kepada pendatang asing (beragama Islam) di Sabah.

Ramli ketika menjadi saksi kepada Suruhanjaya Diraja (RCI) berkenaan pendatang asing di Sabah mendakwa menerima arahan daripada bekas Timbalan Menteri Dalam Negeri, Tan Sri Megat Junid Megat Ayub agar mengeluarkan resit bagi membenarkan pendatang asing di Sabah mengundi pada pilihan raya negeri itu pada 1994.

Menurut Dr Mahathir, Malaysia sentiasa menerima orang asing untuk menjadi warga negara sekiranya mereka memenuhi syarat-syarat tertentu.

"Ramai yang ada di Sabah, mereka berada di situ bukan satu dua hari, satu dua tahun... ada 20, 30 tahun. Mereka ini bercakap dalam bahasa Melayu. Mereka berhak untuk menjadi rakyat. Yang menjadi masalah ialah ialah ada orang yang tidak senang kalau mereka jadi rakyat."

"Orang ini sebelum kita merdeka pun, mereka berulang alik daripada selatan Filipina ke Sabah kerana mereka tidak terima sempadan yang digaris oleh penjajah.

"Seperti juga di Sumatera dan Semenanjung. Kita terima sesiapa yang ada di sini sebagai rakyat, kenapa kita nak tolak mereka?

Kalau mereka lakukan jenayah, mereka terdedah kepada undang-undang kita juga. Tetapi mereka diperlukan oleh Sabah."

Walau diasak bertalu-talu oleh wartawan, Dr Mahathir relaks jawab satu persatu persoalan yang dilontarkan.

Bahkan di satu peringkat, beliau memulangkan 'paku buah keras' kepada soalan seorang wartawan pro pembangkang yang mempersoalkan kenapa beliau beri kerakyatan kepada pendatang Islam warga asing di Sabah.

"Tunku Abdul Rahman lebih teruk dari saya, dia bagi kerakyatan kepada satu juta orang dahulu tanpa pemeriksaan teliti. Saya tidak nafikan pembabitan saya (di Sabah) tapi Tunku beri satu juta kerakyatan di Semenanjung selepas merdeka tiada siapa pertikai..."katanya.

Ditanya mengenai dakwaan bahawa kerajaan pimpinannya sengaja memberikan status kerakyatan kepada pendatang asing sebelum pilihan raya Sabah pada 1994 agar kumpulan berkenaan mengundi menyokong kerajaan, Dr Mahathir berkata ia mungkin berlaku secara kebetulan.

"Ia mungkin dilakukan sebelum pilihan raya negeri, tapi ia sama ada secara tak sengaja atau dirancang...saya tak pasti.

"Tapi ia dibuat berdasarkan peruntukan undang-undang. Jika ia berlaku sebelum pilihan raya (negeri), ia tak bermakna bertentangan dengan undang-undang," katanya.

Berhubung sama pemberian status warga negara kepada pendatang asing di Sabah merupakan alasan politik agar UMNO dan Barisan Nasional (BN) terus berkuasa di negeri itu, Dr Mahathir berkata: "Tidak...ini adalah hak mereka (mendapat kerakyatan bagi yang layak).

"Bila mereka menjadi warga negara, sama ada mereka sokong Umno, BN atau siapa sahaja, itu hak mereka.

"Ia adalah fakta bahawa bukan semua mereka menjadi penyokong BN," katanya.

Beliau bahkan turut mengatakan kesediaannya untuk menjadi saksi kepada Suruhanjaya Diraja tersebut jika keterangan beliau diperlukan.

"Jika mereka minta saya hadir, saya akan pergi"ujarnya.

read the rest of the Agenda Daily Report here.

I think these polemics about new immigrants would not stop, as long as it can be made political capital by the bankrupt of ideas Pakatan crowd to shoot at the BN Gomen. 

As for me, I would gladly have new immigrants who wants to speak Bahasa Melayu in their daily life and wants to interact with all Malaysians, and who are willing to work and live and make this country and all its citizens prosper, to become citizens of Malaysia any time.

Posted in Chittagong, Bangladesh.