Deputy Home Minister Datuk Lee Chee Leong today denied allegations his ministry was approving citizenships to foreign workers in the country in return for electoral support during elections.
Yesterday, PKR MP Zuraida Kamruddin had circulated a document alleged to be an application Hulu Selangor Umno had sent to Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishamuddin Hussein requesting that 2,000 foreigners be given full citizenship instead of just permanent residence, to help secure a Barisan Nasional (BN) victory here in the next general election.
The application, titled “13th General Election — Seeking approval to obtain citizenships for Hulu Selangor parliamentary seat, Selangor”, contains the Hulu Selangor Umno letterhead and purportedly signed by division chief Datuk Mohamed Idris Abu Bakar
Speaking to reporters today, Lee denied citizenships were being handed out in return for electoral support, adding that this was not something that can be handed out without proper justifications.
“A foreigner who has been granted permanent resident status can apply to become a Malaysian citizen, but it will not necessarily be approved. There is no issue over the granting of citizenship purely for election purposes,” he was quoted by Bernama Online today.
PKR today demanded for authorities to investigate their claims into the matter, and accused the Umno division of being willing to commit treason just to ensure success in the coming general election.
The letter, Zuraida said, was evidence indicating such a scheme was being orchestrated and must be examined to determine its authenticity.
Hulu Selangor Umno yesterday said the document was a forgery, pointing out that the letterhead used was not the one usually used by the division.
It also claimed division chief Idris’s signature on the letter was different, and that his name was not used in its entirety.
The division has lodged a police report over the matter and threatened to sue Zuraida and PKR if they failed to retract their allegation.
Hulu Selangor is presently held by BN’s P. Kamalanathan.
The MIC leader scored an upset when he successfully beat former PKR leader Datuk Zaid Ibrahim for the seat during the April 2010 by-election by securing 24,997 votes to Zaid’s 23,272, winning with a 1,725-vote majority.
The seat was previously held by PKR’s Datuk Dr Zainal Abidin Ahmad who died on March 25 last year, paving the way for the by-election.
The PKR man had wrested the seat from MIC’s Datuk G. Palanivel, who is now the party’s president, with a wafer thin 198-vote majority during the political tsunami of Election 2008.
