‘New citizens’ also benefitting from BR1M, says Majimbun

PENAMPANG: Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) on Tuesday claimed the Bantuan Rakyat 1Malaysia (BR1M) scheme appears to have been benefited those not qualified for it, including the 'new citizens' who are originally foreign nationals.

Is Deputy President Datuk Eric Majimbun claimed that one of them is an Indonesian man who had just obtained his Malaysian citizenship last November.

He also displayed some documents on the screeh to substantiate his claims over the said incident, which was brought to his attention by his party colleague cum Kundasang CLC Chairman Japiril Suhaimi who first discovered it.

"l believe this could be just the tip of the iceberg; there could be many more such cases which we do not know. This is a gross waste of the taxpayers' money, which is supposed to benefit bona fide Malaysian citizens," he said at a gathering cum dinner organised by SAPP Kepayan held at a restaurant here Monday.

Majimbun said there was no point lodging a police report over the matter, citing his previous personal experience involving the theft of his identity by an illegal immigrant, in 2008, about which until today nothing has come of it despite the report lodged and the matter being raised during the BN meeting.

The Sepanggar MP also claimed that in his constituency alone, more than 3,000 eligible applicants for the BR1M had been rejected.

 

"The relevant authorities have put the blame squarely on the Inland Revenue Board (lRB)," he said, sharing the public's concern over the presence of a large number of 'dubious citizens' in the State who obtained their citizenship through dubious means like the infamous 'Project IC' scheme.

He is confident that the perennial issue of illegal immigrants and dubious citizens can be effectively resolved with SAPP's proposed plan to issue Sabah's own identity cards, if it gets to form the next State government.

Daily Express

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

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