KOTA KINABALU: “I was never involved in the issuance of Malaysian identity cards to immigrants,” says former political secretary to Tun Mahathir Mohammad, Tan Sri Aziz Shamsuddin.
“Nor do I know the former Sabah National Registration Department (NRD) officer Akup Damsah or own a house in Kampung Pandan that he was referring to,” Aziz testified at the Royal Commission of Inquiry on the presence of illegal immigrants in Sabah yesterday.
Aziz, who is the 202nd witness to give evidence to the Commission, said that the allegations that he owned the house where a group of NRD officers were alleged to have processed blue ICs meant for immigrants was baseless.
Aziz, who was questioned by Conducting Officer Datuk Azmi Ariffin about his alleged involvement in ‘Projek IC’, kept repeating that he was never involved in the project and had never heard of it until it was mentioned in the RCI proceedings.
“If there is such a project, it must be carried out according to the law (but) I have never heard of Projek IC,” he said, when asked by Azmi if he has heard of Projek IC when he was the political secretary to the then Prime Minister Tun Mahathir.
To Azmi’s next question on whether he was aware that his name had been mentioned by two witnesses giving evidence to the Commission, Aziz’s reply was: “I only knew after one of my children mentioned it to me but I was not worried because I was never involved in what they were doing.
Azmi then proceeded to inform Aziz that he was named by former Tamparuli NRD office head Akup Damsah and former Sabah NRD director Datuk Abd Rauf Sani when they gave evidence to the Commission.
Aziz was also told that his name was mentioned in the late Mutalib MD’s book as someone who was involved in the issuance of blue Malaysian ICs to immigrants in Sabah.
“I have no inkling of this until I was approached and informed of the matter by the police. I have never seen or read the book, I do not know Akup,” Aziz said, but he admitted to knowing Abd Rauf and a Colonel Mohamad Noor which was mentioned by Akup.
“I got to know Abd Rauf during my frequent visits to Sabah and since he is from Peninsular Malaysia, we met a few times when he went back,” Aziz said, when asked by Azmi if he had ever met up with Abd Rauf in Peninsular Malaysia.
To Azmi’s question on whether, during his tenure as the Prime Minister’s political secretary, he had ever arranged for Abd Rauf to meet with Mahathir.
Aziz said: “Yes, but it was Abd Rauf who came to see me and asked to meet with the Prime Minister. Since he is the Sabah NRD director I did not hesitate to bring him to meet the Prime Minister, but that was all I did. After bringing him to the Prime Minister’s office, I exited the room and went back to my office,” he said.
When Azmi asked if he had asked Mahathir on what was discussed, Aziz said that he did not because to him that would indicate he was a busybody and he was also too embarrassed to ask Abd Rauf on what had transpired.
On Abd Rauf’s and Akup’s claims that he had met with NRD officers in the house in Kampung Pandan, Aziz said the claims were baseless.
He however admitted to having gone to the house as it was the place where former ITM graduates would meet to discuss the future of the country, Aziz said, adding that he did not own the building which was rented by the Royal Selangor Turf Club.
“I live just down the street from this house and would stop by on my way home, especially if I see many of my friends are there,” he said.
Aziz also denied witnessing the NRD officers signing the ICs to be issued to the immigrants and pointed out that it was strange to have the document which is very important, to be processed in a house which did not have security measures such as police or security.
There are government buildings built to do this, so why were these ready facilities not used, he said, adding that the allegations were just attempts to tarnish his name.
“I have never met any Sabah NRD officer… I swear in Allah’s name that I am not involved. I was only the Prime Minister’s political secretary. I have never spoken to the Prime Minister nor had the Prime Minster given me any instructions pertaining to ICs because he knows that this is not the job of Aziz Shamsuddin, it is NRD’s job,” Aziz said.
“I hope the Commission can clear me of these accusations as I have never done anything to threaten the safety of this country,” he stressed.
Akup, who was the 14th witness to give evidence, had told the Commission that several officers including himself, were called for a special assignment in 1990 to process blue ICs meant for immigrants. Akup, who was attached to the Tamparuli NRD office before he was detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA) in 1995, said, his team was brought to Kuala Lumpur where he helped process at least 40,000 ICs in a month.
“My job included signing the IC, I think I must have signed in the region of hundreds of thousands throughout my service. In Kuala Lumpur, I and other officers who were summoned by the NRD Director, were placed in a house in Kampung Pandan. If I’m not mistaken it is the house of Pak Aziz, the then political secretary to Tun Mahathir.
“We were briefed by the NRD director and another person about our tasks, and our duty was just to sign the ICs that were already filled with applicants’ particulars. We knew it was against the law but as a government servant we were bound to our duties to carry out the directive from our superior,” he said.
They were gazetted as authorized officers for signing the ICs and also given verbal assurance that they would be protected from any legal action for their involvement in the exercise,” he added.
“The ICs would then be sent to NRD headquarters in Petaling Jaya to be laminated. I, myself, have personally taken some of the ICs for laminating. The processed ICs would then be brought back to Sabah to be claimed by their respective applicants. I do not know whether the people to whom the ICs were given have made proper applications as this (processing of applications) was handled by other parties, so was the handing over of the ICs. But all the ICs issued have proper records with duplicates kept by the NRD,” he said.
According to Akup, most of the applicants being given the ICs were Filipinos and Indonesians.