KOTA KINABALU: A federal-level deputy minister’s denial that Sabah is a victim of “Project IC” – a planned illegal immigrant population explosion engineered by the federal government – has stunned Sabah Barisan Nasional coalition members.
Deputy Home Minister Lee Chee Leong on Thursday raised a storm of protests from leaders on both sides of the political divide who are furious that the federal government is still in denial over the issue.
Lee, a senior MCA leader, has been accused by several Sabah politicians of playing to the tune of Umno which has been accused of granting citizenship and Malaysian identity cards to over 600,000 foreign migrant workers (predominantly Muslims from Indonesia and Mindanao in the Philippines) in Sabah, in exchange for their votes in elections.
Lee’s statement came days after Bernama quoted Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin acknowledging the problem.
