Daily Express

Kota Kinabalu: Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan, whose book "Justice For Sabah" detailed an alleged scheme by certain Federal and Sabah leaders to legalise hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants, had his statement recorded by police.

A police officer from Karamunsing headquarters personally took his statement at his Sokid Villa residence in Bukit Padang, Luyang, over three hours.

"They have been calling me to get my statement but I was a bit busy. So today I decided to co-operate," he said, adding among others he hoped the allegations would be investigated thoroughly and the matter solved.

"I have given the information that they wanted especially those based on my book. I hope the report by me as well as by others to the Parliamentary Select Committee recently will be able to facilitate in finding solution, including the establishment of a Royal Commission of Inquiry," he said.

Told to clarify, he said he was referring to Jabar Khan and MD Mutalib, who appeared before the Parliamentary Select Committee chaired by Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Tan Sri Bernard Dompok in Kuala Lumpur recently.

Dr Jeffrey reiterated that the problem must be solved as it involved the security and sovereignty of the country as well as towards ensuring a clean election.

"If there is no solution, we will lose our independence since the ones deciding our future will not be us but 'outsiders'. We hope the people of Sabah realise this and make their stand," he said.

Hopefully, he said the Election Commission (EC) would ensure that the coming general election is clean and cleared of phantom and foreign votes.

According to him, apart from phantom voters who are people voting using the names of people who were dead, among others, the EC must also be prepared to check foreigners impersonating as locals using MyKad and temporary IC receipts to cast votes.

"I also hope those Barisan Nasional (BN) leaders who were in the opposition before and have spoken about this will abide with what they have said before to condemn all these," he said.

Dr Jeffrey also wanted the EC to clarify its statement that a person is supposed to vote according to their address in their IC.

"Maybe they need to clarify on the status of the army personnel (posted in various bases in the country like in Sabah). Their ICs will definitely show their address not in Sabah. So they should not be voting here," he said.

Dr Jeffrey also advised the electorates to verify their names in the electoral rolls and their polling stations now and before the election to ensure it has not been changed.

He said that there were cases in the last election where the voters had their polling station changed without their knowledge.

"I would like to ask the Election Commission who allowed these unauthorised changes," he said.

Meanwhile, Dr Jeffrey confirmed Monday he will go for one of the Keadilan Vice-President posts during the party's congress this May.

Dr Jeffrey, who was appointed one of the three Sabah Keadilan deputy chairmen immediately upon joining the party late last year, said the 25 divisions in Sabah were currently holding its annual general meetings and elections of office bearers until end of this month.

After the AGMs at the division level, Sabah Keadilan would hold its congress during which it would probably nominate party advisor, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim for the presidency post as well. Dr Jeffrey also confirmed that he would remain in Keningau for the coming election.