Citizenship-for-vote: Mariah calls for royal commission

KUALA LUMPUR, May 12: PAS's Kota Raja member of parliament Dr Siti Mariah Mahmud (pic) has called for a Royal Commission of Inquiry to investigate a revelation by PKR that National Registration Department had been in cahoots with UMNO to approve thousands of citizenship applications in exchange for votes to Barisan Nasional.

“Do establish a RCI because this involves the credibility of the Home Ministry and National Registration Department.

"In fact, BN's Sabah MPs had raised the matter on the handing out of fake ICs and deputy Parliament Speaker Ronald Kiandee had specifically reprimanded that it was not ‘fake ICs’. This means that BN Sabah also knows about this issue,” she said today.

Siti Mariah said she too had received information on similar moves, and cited several Sabah residents had been brought to the UMNO office to change their Mykad addresses so that they can register to vote in Kota Raja, her constituency.

Earlier, Selangor PKR revealed a letter from UMNO's Hulu Selangor branch to the Home Minister Hishamuddin Hussein, urging the approval of some 2,000 foreigners' applications for citizenships to secure victory in the constituency.

PKR: 'Not the first time'

Selangor PKR deputy head Zuraida Kamaruddin and central committee member Khalid Jaafar yesterday lodged a police report over the matter.

Zuraida (right) and Khalid at the Bukit Sentosa police station yesterday

Zuraida, the MP for Ampang, had earlier shown to the media the letter dated March 23 allegedly written by UMNO's Hulu Selangor head Idris Abu Bakar, requesting for ‘reinforcement’ of BN's vote bank in his area.

UMNO has denied the allegation, saying the letter was fake.

Zuraida however called on the police to verify the denial, saying it was not the first time such tactics had been employed by UMNO, citing similar acts under the so-called ‘Project IC’ scheme in Sabah.

“What happened in Likas (Sabah) involved 600,000 foreigners who were given citizenships. Now, what has happened in Likas is also happening in the Peninsula," she added.

source:http://en.harakahdaily.net/index.php/headline/2793-citizenship-for-vote-mariah-calls-for-royal-commission.html