The vast majority of voters in the Kota Kinabalu and adjacent Penampang parliamentary constituency are in favour of a royal commission of inquiry (RCI) into the illegal immigration problem in the state.

According to a survey by independent pollster Merdeka Centre, a whopping 88 percent of the total 411 respondents agreed to having the RCI, while only 8 percent disagreed.

Of the 359 respondents who agreed to the RCI, 23 percent said there were too many illegal immigrants in the state while 22 percent said illegal immigrants had a correlation to rising crime rates.

Contacted for details Merdeka Centre research manager Tan Seng Keat said the results of the survey mirrors sentiments expressed by BN, Pakatan and other indigenous political parties during the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) hearing on electoral reforms in Kota Kinabalu in November last year.

“The voter inclination towards having a RCI to investigate the issue has been expressed for a very long time through the political parties,” said Tan.

The PSC has recommended that an RCI be established to look into the allegation in its interim report and Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak was supposed to confirm this in February.

De facto Law Minister Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz told the Dewan Negara earlier this month that while the cabinet had agreed to establish the RCI, the terms of reference and its composition was still being worked out.

Happy with PM

Meanwhile, the survey also suggested that voters in the two constituencies were equally split on the approval rating for the state government and Chief Minister Musa Aman.

However, it was clear that most of the respondents were pleased with Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, with 60 percent expressing that they were “satisfied” with his performance.

On the opposition front, a majority of the respondents are favourable of a collaboration between indigenous political parties and the Kuala Lumpur-based Pakatan Rakyat coalition.

A total of 46 percent of respondents agreed to such a collaboration while 23 percent disagreed.

Asked if whether indigenous political parties or Pakatan could better safeguard Sabah’s interest, 38 percent answered that they were “unsure”.

Another 50 percent of the respondents were almost equally split between indigenous political parties and Pakatan.

The two Parliamentary constituencies also appear ripe for opposition parties as 59 percent of respondents said political parties other than BN should be given a chance to govern.

On the small sample size, Tan explained that Merdeka Centre had limited the survey to the most urban parts of Sabah because telephone penetration in the state was limited.