RCI MUST BE SET UP FOR THE WHOLE COUNTRY FOR SECURITY REASONS

RCI needed not just in Sabah but nationwide – Anwar

KOTA KINABALU April 16, 2012: Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said there is a need to set up a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) to look into allegations related to illegal immigrants not only in Sabah but also throughout the country.

The proposed establishment RCI must cover Selangor, Penang and all states, he said during a gathering at a restaurant in Tanjung Aru on Saturday.

“In my own constituency, Permatang Pauh, there are cases in the electoral roll where a house with only four occupants has many registered voters with weird names, which sound like Bangladeshis and Indonesians,” he claimed.

“I went to the house to investigate and found all those voters did not exist at all. The number of voters with that address exceeds the number of the occupants,” he said.

“That is why I do not agree that the RCI must be set up only in Sabah; it should be for the whole country for security reasons and also for economic stability,” he added.

Anwar said Pakatan Rakyat (PR) will implement its transparent and equitable economic agenda if the people give them the mandate to govern the resource rich country.

He pointed out that Turkey had reformed economically after the new government was formed in the country in 2003.

He said the people have the right to know how the government runs the country financially.

“Turkey is now televising the award of government contracts as one of their efforts to be transparent in the implementation of their economic policy,” he said.

He said that with the people’s support, the New Economic Policy will be replaced with the National Economic Agenda for the people’s well-being.

Anwar, who is a former deputy prime minister and finance minister, said Malaysia’s economy has fallen behind its neighbours.

“Back in 1990s our country’s economic performance was number one in Southeast Asia ahead of Singapore, Thailand, Brunei and the rest. Now, we are lagging behind them,” he said.

“This country was dubbed an economic tiger in Southeast Asia during the 1990s,” he said.

Anwar said Pakatan Rakyat will abolish the PTPTN loan as soon as it forms the government.

“Our country will never go bankrupt by abolishing the PTPTN loan as our country is rich in natural resources, which have been however managed inefficiently.

“If tomorrow we form the government, while we have yet to do anything and there is yet an economic policy, our oil and gas revenue is still there with billions of ringgit for us to provide free access to education for all up to university level.

“Turkey, which has no natural resources like ours, can provide free access to education for its people until the tertiary level,” he said.