PRESS STATEMENT
5 DECEMBER 2014
RCI Report – taking the art of white-washing to the pits
While it comes as no surprise that the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) Report has absolved the UMNO-BN Government of any culpability, it has taken the art of white-washing to the pits.
In this farcical turn of events, the report puts the blame only on errant civil service runners for what was clearly the biggest illegal immigrant scandal in our history since independence.
The master minds and the real culprits responsible for the nefarious importation into Sabah of illegal immigrants from southern Philippines and Indonesia are completely off the hook.
The hearing had held out the promise of some form of justice and appropriate retribution not just for the people of Sabah but the whole country.
Unfortunately, it has now yielded a 366-page document of predominantly meaningless verbiage exonerating all the government agencies and departments of any culpability and citing monetary gain as the motive.
Even more glaring is the utter failure to mention the role of the National Security Council as well as the Prime Minister’s Department, let alone attribute any blame on them, notwithstanding the overwhelming evidence to that effect.
While it is well known that the UMNO-BN government will never own up to its failings, we would have expected at least a modicum of contrition followed by a resolve to make good the errors and misdeeds of the past.
Sadly, there is nothing to show for that and Malaysians are once again treated to another farcical display of chest thumping and proclamations of grandeur reminiscent of the recently concluded UMNO general assembly.
Anwar Ibrahim
Leader of the Opposition
