ECONOMY Minister Rafizi Ramli will discuss with Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail over the likelihood of lodging a police report against PAS for spreading malicious perception that “54,000 Chinese nationals are in the process of being granted citizenship”.
The Pandan MP further described the social media posting over the matter as “a clear criminal defamation” and “a lie”.
“PAS needs to be held accountable if they continue to lie like this,” Rafizi who is also the PKR deputy president penned in Facebook post.
Rafizi’s action came after Bersatu information chief Datuk Razali Idris who regarded the issue of 54,000 Chinese citizens in the process of being granted citizenship as “very serious” wanted the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) “to immediately investigate the Home Minister and the National registration Department (NRD)”.
“Although denied by the Home Minister of KDN and most cheerfully denied by the Communications and Digital Minister, this issue warrants an immediate investigation. This is not a matter of slander or accusation but the Malaysian public deserve to know the truth,” Razali who is also a Dewan Negara member posted on his Facebook page.
“We don’t want the sovereignty of our country to be encroached at arbitrary, let alone due to the doing of an internal party. The Home Minister must be held accountable. How could the trees just shake without a (strong) wind blowing.”
Although Razali’s call could be accepted as a view from the opposition front, PAS went a step further to trumpet his call in a manner that may incite slander or be seen as defamatory, especially to Saifuddin and the Home Ministry (see main pic).
In fact, the NRD had on Aug 18 clarified that the 54,000 citizenship applications mentioned by Saifuddin during a media conference on Jan 9 this year referred to applications received between 2017 and 2022 from applicants of various backgrounds and countries – and not just limited to China.
The department further explained that a portion of Saifuddin’s statement was manipulated to misrepresent what he had actually said on that day.
Back then, Saifuddin had mentioned that of the 54,000 applicants, 7,000 had had their applications approved while another 36,000 applications were being processed.
The NRD also stressed that citizenship applications have always been subjected to provisions of the Federal Constitution and other relevant laws. – Aug 29, 2023
