UPKO CONCERNED OVER PROBE DELAY INTO ‘SELF-PROCLAIMED SULTAN’

UPKO concerned over probe delay into ‘self-proclaimed sultan’

February 21, 2011, Monday KOTA KINABALU: United Pasokmomogun KadazanDusun Murut Organization (UPKO) has urged the police to expedite their investigation into the case of Datu Mohd Akjan Ali Muhammad who had allegedly installed himself as ‘sultan of Sulu’.  

“Due to the gravity of the case, it is of paramount importance for the authorities concerned (including the police) to allay the public fears and concern of the existence of a ‘self-proclaimed sultan’ in our midst.

“Therefore any delay in the investigation is certainly a point of serious concern,” secretary general Datuk Wilfred Madius Tangau said.

Madius in a statement yesterday also urged the police to expediate the probe on the various reports including those which had specifically requested the police to investigate into several issues such as whether or not Akjan is a Malaysian and whether or not his act of calling on Suluks in Sabah to pledge loyalty to him instead of to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong was seditious or an act of treason.

He expressed the hope that the police would get Akjan to produce his identification documents and to finally determine on the possibility of the latter becoming a cult figure.

Madius said this when responding to Sabah Police Commissioner Datuk Haji Hamza Taib’s statement that investigations into the case was still on going and the police needed time to conclude their probe on Akjan.

“The investigation to establish whether or not Akjan is a Malaysian or not should not take a longer time than necessary because the relevant government department should make available Akjan’s citizenship information to the investigating authorities,” he said and reiteirated that any delay in the investigation was certainly a point of serious concern.

Madius reiterated UPKO’s consistent call for the setting up of a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) into the allegation that foreigners had been issued with Malaysian identity cards by an alleged ‘Project I/C’ based upon the experience and performance of past investigations by the police into similar police reports previously lodged to ascertain the existence of the alleged project as well as the authencity of the identity cards issued.

“It is UPKO’s committed stand that only an RCI can establish the truth as to Akjan’s real citizenship, especially when it involved someone who had been previously detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA) for his involvement in a syndicate to issue identity cards to illegal immigrants like himself,” Madius stressed.

Meanwhile when commenting on the announcement by Deputy Education Minister Datuk Dr Mohd Puad Zarkashi that more teachers from the peninsula would be sent to Sabah and Sarawak, the UPKO secretary general said that the inability of the Ministry of Education to recruit the required number of Sabahans and Sarawakians to undergo the “Kursus Perguruan Lepasan Ijazah” (KPLI) despite having open interviews was something which UPKO viewed seriously.

Madius added that it was public knowledge that many Sabahans had applied to undergo the KPLI and had attended the interviews but were eventually rejected.

“In view of the situation and to respond to Dr Fuad’s concern, UPKO calls upon all unsuccessful applicants for the KPLI to either fax their rejection letters or to surf the party’s website www.upko.org.my for further action.

“Alternatively they can also post the letters to UPKO headquarters and we will forward them to Dr Fuad by way of a memorandum for re-consideration by the Ministry of Education,” he said.