Ongkili not blameless but “speaking the truth” on IC project, says Kit Siang

File photo of PBS President Maximus Ongkili.

GELANG PATAH, July 3 – At least half a dozen of Sabah Chief Ministers would not be Sabah Chief Ministers if not for the illegal immigrants problem in Sabah, claimed Member of Parliament for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang.

Referring to a recent claim by Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) president Maximus Ongkili, that a Barisan Nasional party was involved in a citizenship-for-votes scheme where the beneficiaries were the pendatang tanpa izin (PATI) because “they did not want PBS to be the government in Sabah”, Kit Siang said Ongkili was “speaking the truth”.

He also said that former Sabah Chief Minister Salleh Said Keruak was “protesting too much” when he told the Sabah BN convention Friday that Ongkili’s allegations were slander and that if he (Ongkili) mentioned BN, a police report would be lodged. Ongkili has not mentioned the name of the alleged BN party.

“Even former Prime Minister Najib Razak admitted that there was such a project as “Project IC”,” Kit Siang said.

He also added that PBS leaders, especially Joseph Pairin Kitingan and Ongkili, were not free from blame., “Joseph Pairin was Sabah Deputy Chief Minister for 14 years from 2004 until the 14th General Election in 2018 after rejoining Barisan Nasional in 2002 while Ongkili was a Cabinet Minister from 2004 to 2018 and both did nothing to resolve the problem.”

— WE