Citizenship in Crisis: the Ripple Effect of the Undocumented Migrants in Sabah

Citizenship in Crisis: the Ripple Effect of the Undocumented Migrants in Sabah

Author: Melissa Chia Pui Fung

Publisher: Strategic Information and Research Development Centre (SIRD)

ISBN: 9786297575629

Weight: 348 g

Pages: 208 pp

Year: 2026

Price: RM45

The book analyses the complex and controversial issue of citizenship in Sabah, particularly the incident known as Project IC where the executive powers of the time issued identity cards to undocumented immigrants in Sabah in order to transform the state into a Muslim majority state and shore up a loyal voting bloc for the then-reigning UMNO.

Via the trajectory of the formation of the Federation of Malaysia, it explains to readers the concept of Ketuanan Melayu Islam and how it motivates the actions of the Federal Government to disempower and reduce the political influence of non-Muslim natives in Sabah.

The book also provides detailed analysis of the complicated process of obtaining Malaysian citizenship, providing legal precedent for incidents where children born to Malaysian parents were denied citizenship, in contrast to the ease and quickness of the illegal immigrants who were given ICs in order to turn them into voters.

It studies the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on Project IC, providing firsthand recollections from participants of both the RCI and Project IC to establish that the project was not a conspiracy but something that truly happened. Finally, the book goes into the political implications of Project IC, the lack of accountability for its impact and the effect it had upon Sabah’s demographics and how it impacts the current political environment of the state.