MINISTER TELLS OPPOSITION TO STOP RAISING ISSUES ON MAHATHIR

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 28(Bernama) -- Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz Thursday urged opposition members to cease raising issues linked to Dr Mahathir Mohamad in the Lower House of Parliament (Dewan Rakyat) as it was unfair to the former prime minister.

He said this when responding to a supplementary question from Lim Kit
Siang, an opposition MP, who wanted to know whether the government was aware of
a
project, known as the "Mahathir project", which allegedly involved the issuance
of false identity cards to illegal immigrants in East Malaysia state of
Sabah.

Lim also claimed that the project had led to immigrants outnumbering locals
in the state.

Mohamed Nazri said no one who was not entitled to become a citizen of
the country had been accorded such privilege by the government.

"...since that person (Mahathir) is no longer here, don't raise matters
relating to him. It is unfair to Tun Mahathir since he cannot answer the
question," he added.


Earlier, when replying to Eric Enchin Majimbun, the National Front (Barisan
Nasional) MP on the number of foreigners who had entered Sabah in the last five
years, Mohamed Nazri said the number was 154,798 as of July and 9,342 of them
were detained for entering the state without valid travel documents.

He said operations were being conducted by the relevant authorities to nab
the illegal immigrants and patrols were stepped up at all entry points in the
state to prevent their entry.

The government also encouraged cooperation from the public to address the
problem of illegal immigrants in the country and programmes like courses,
briefings and talks were held to instil awareness of the matter among the
people, he added.