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Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz today urged opposition members to cease raising issues linked to Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad in the Dewan Rakyat as it was unfair to the former prime minister.

He said this when responding to a supplementary question from Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Ipoh Timur), 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 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 Datuk Eric Enchin Majimbun(BN-Sepanggar) 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.