Murray Hunter
Madius Confirms What Sabahans Already Know — “Missing 400,000” Are the Legacy of Project IC
Daniel John Jambun
Sep 01, 2025
Kota Kinabalu : The statement by Tuaran MP Datuk Seri Wilfred Madius Tangau in Parliament this week, highlighting the mysterious “missing” 400,000 people in Sabah’s population records, once again exposes a painful truth: Sabah’s demography has been systematically manipulated through the unlawful issuance of identity cards under Project IC.
A National Betrayal, Not Just a Statistical Error
The discrepancy raised by Madius between the National Registration Department (NRD) and Statistics Department is not a clerical mistake. It is the result of deliberate misconduct by federal authorities in the 1980s and 1990s, when illegal immigrants were granted blue ICs for political advantage.
The Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on Illegal Immigrants in Sabah (2012–2014) confirmed that thousands of ICs were issued outside constitutional procedures. Yet, despite clear recommendations, successive federal governments have failed to implement a permanent solution. This was not only a violation of Malaysian law, but a direct breach of the guarantees Sabah was given under the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) — particularly immigration autonomy and demographic protection.
Breach of MA63, Constitution, and International Law
When Malaysia was formed with Malaya, Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak on equal partnership, Sabah was promised:
Point 6 of the 20 Points — control over immigration.
Point 1 — no state religion, ensuring demographic balance.
Project IC violated both, while also breaching the Federal Constitution (Article 14 & the Second Schedule). Internationally, it represents demographic engineering inconsistent with the UN Charter’s right to self-determination and with UN General Assembly Resolution 1514 (XV) on decolonisation.
The question Madius raised — “Who are these 400,000 people?” — has one clear answer: they are the product of a federal betrayal of Sabah’s rights and integrity.
Consequences for Sabah
This demographic manipulation has left deep scars:
Indigenous Kadazan-Dusun-Murut and non-Muslim communities diluted.
Social tension, crime, and resource strain worsened by uncontrolled migration.
Loss of trust in federal institutions, as Sabahans feel deceived and overruled.
Our Call to Action
We fully support Madius’ call for the government to implement the RCI recommendations. But that alone is not enough. We demand:
Full federal acknowledgment of Project IC as unlawful.
Restitution mechanisms to protect Sabah’s political and demographic integrity.
Independent audits and parliamentary oversight of the digital IC system to prevent a repeat of Project IC in digital form.
Project IC was not a “mistake of the past” — it is a living wound. Sabah’s missing 400,000 people are not missing at all. They are evidence of one of the greatest betrayals in our nation’s history.
Sabahans will not forget. The integrity of MA63, the Constitution, and Sabah’s future must be defended.
Daniel John Jambun
President
Borneo’s Plight in Malaysia Foundation (BoPiMaFo)
Sabah’s Project IC in the 1980s and 90s was copied by Bloodymir Rasputin in the eastern oblasts of Ukraine in 2019 when 700k Russian passports were handed out to Ukrainians who must either “take it or leave”. Hmmm… sounds like “ethnic cleansing”?
ReplyDeleteToonsie must be very proud….ha3
Here is a Swedish Report Abstract:
This thesis takes a closer look at Russia’s use of passportization in Donbas, 2019. How it was used as a calculated step towards its full-scale invasion in 2022. By distributing Russian passports to over 700,000 people living in separatist-controlled areas, Russia essentially created a legal and political excuse to justify its actions, presenting them as a way to “protect” their nationals. Passportization goes beyond humanitarian concerns - it actively undermines Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, violating Article 2(4) of the UN Charter. It also complicates efforts to resolve the conflict through agreements like the Minsk accords. By comparing this strategy to similar situations in Georgia and Moldova, the paper highlights a pattern in Russia’s tactics: passportization is used as a weapon in its hybrid warfare strategies. Finally, the Donbas case shows how citizenship can be weaponized to weaken state sovereignty, destabilize regions, and set the stage for military action under a mask of legality.
https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1926715/FULLTEXT01.pdf
https://www.hrw.org/news/2025/03/25/get-passport-or-leave-russias-ultimatum-ukrainians
https://www.swp-berlin.org/10.18449/2020C41/
https://www.euractiv.com/section/global-europe/news/russia-passports-forced-on-ukrainians-to-erase-identity/
https://suspilne.media/amp/847793-you-wont-receive-payments-how-ukrainians-occupied-territories-forced-russian-citizenship/
mfer, where r the originality of the Ukraine passportization?
ReplyDeleteOoop… u just c&p w/o due processes of info vetting!
Long before the independence of Ukraine from USSR, there were large migration of Russians into the Ukraine Donbass region. Donbass was a choice for USSR industrialization base due to her location, natural mineral deposits. There were NO distinct boundary between the Russia & Ukraine oblasts.
However, with the collapse of USSR, the independent Ukraine wants to eliminate all past associations with the Russia.
The initiation of the Ukrainization of the Donbass was done w/o due consultations with the Donnas natives. This Ukraine Passportization goes beyond humanitarian concerns - it actively undermines Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. The Donnas natives r forced to speak Ukrainian in schools & all govt correspondences (sound familiar, mfer!).
The dissociation of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC), with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC). In May 2022, following the full-scale invasion, the UOC declared its full independence from the Moscow Patriarchate, though the sincerity and validity of this declaration are disputed.
The UOC's continued affiliation with the ROC led to a new Ukrainian law in 2024, which bans religious organizations linked to Russia.
The Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) was established in 2019, independent of Moscow, and is recognized by the Patriarchate of Constantinople.
The OCU exists separately from the UOC. The UOC does not recognize the OCU's independence.
This intrusion into the religion aspect of the Donbass natives is one of the cause for the Donbass separatist movement, long before the current Russia-Ukraine war.
The issuing of the Russian passports to the Donbass natives by Russia happens after the regional referendums for Donnas region & their choice to join the Russian Federation.
Mfer, either u r selective in yr readings, or u r truly blurred & f*coed in the understanding of geopolitical happenstance around ANYTHING u touch!