Public frustration on immigrant problem growing, PBS warns

By Michael Kaung, Free Malaysia Today

KOTA KINABALU: Frustration and public discontent is growing in Sabah over the burgeoning population of illegal immigrants, warned a Barisan Nasional component party.

The federal government has to starting acting immediatley to resolve the problem rather than put it off to later, Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) secretary general Henrynus Amin said.

The party wants the issue to be included in the National Key Result Areas (NKRA) so as to compel enforcement agencies to produce results.

Minister in the PM's department Idris Jala said recently that the issue of illegal immigration is not one of the country's six top priorities and therefore is not included in the NKRA.

Henrynus said the non inclusion of the illegal immigrant issue in the NKRA will reinforce the already strong public opinion that the federal government lacks the political will to act.

While accepting that the special laboratory set up by the state government to deal with the problem is a first step, he said: "The results must acted upon.Otherwise, it may be seen as mere window dressing."

The special laboratory on foreign workers and illegal immigration involves relevant federal and state departments and agencies including the police, immigration, ACA, Attorney General's chambers, Election Commission, local authorities, district offices and NGO.

PBS stresses that the presence of huge transient population in Sabah is a national problem which requires national solutions and commitment, Henrynus said.

PBS chief and deputy chief minister Joseph Pairin Kitingan emphasised the party's zero tolerance on illegal immigration and repeated a deadline of 2012 to resolve the issue.

Illegal syndicates

Federal leaders should not forget that Sabah joined in the formation of Malaysia on security grounds and not economic.

The 20-Point safeguards, the inter governmental committee report and Malaysia Agreement which formed the basis for Sabah and Sarawak to be part of Malaysia plainly show this fact, Henrynus said.

Ignoring or denying protection to the people of Sabah does not absolve them from this responsibility and the lackadaisical attitude of some political leaders and government officials on the issue is disappointing and frustrating, he added.

"It is odd for officials to ask for proof when tangible proof is right under their noses," he said.

He said the man in the street can tell that illegal syndicates are operating within the deep layers of government to help foreigners become citizens of this country through the backdoor.

He warned that the younger generation of Sabahans are uneasy about the apparent inaction or powerlessness of the enforcement agencies to deal with illegal immigration and are demanding answers.

"PBS recognises the fears and concerns of these young generations and will work hard to accommodate their demand within the framework of a political solution," he said.

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Comments (19) Add Comment

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written by gentek003, August 08, 2010 06:11:20

I am not surprise. This is issue has been going on for ages.

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written by Nunuk Ragang, August 06, 2010 20:42:14

I have many relatives within my extended family with monthly nett salary of less than RM500, and those are the lucky ones to have a job, some works odd-jobs to support their living...and i doubt they earn more than RM500 a month...

Most of them have minimum 3 kids and a wife to support. They live in dilapidated houses...Fortunately, living in the rural area means plenty of food source from the forest and sufficient rice from ploughing at the paddy field. The saddest thing for me is to discover that WE DO NOT NEED TO LIVE LIKE THIS, WE ARE SONS OF THE SOIL AND WE OUGHT TO BE PART OF THE ELEVATED SOCIO-ECONOMIC LIFE THAT MOST MALAYS ARE ENJOYING IN WEST MALAYSIA SINCE FORMATION OF MALAYSIA.

Sabah is the 2nd largest contributor of oil produce to Malaysia, and what do the indigenous people get in return??? Indigenous politicians who enrich themselves via government contracts and trying hard to be relevant in BN...I have news for these politicians (IT'S HARD TO BE RELEVANT CONSIDERING WE ARE ONLY LEFT 33% OF THE WHOLE SABAH POPULATIONS AND THEY ARE 3 OF YOU (PBS, UPKO & PBRS) TRYING TO BE RELEVANT) .....Try make a statistic by counting this 33% divided by the whole Malaysia population, we are a tiny speck yet YOU STILL WANT TO BE DIVIDED?....GET IT???

The Malays keeps on harping on being the original people of Malaya and Malay Supremacy due to their majority ......In the book SPIRIT OF BORNEO by the JOHNSONS..which was written pre-Japanese invasian stated that "the indigenous people( specifically the Dusuns) were the Strongest Ethnic element in North Borneo"......Mind you, this was written when there was no politics interest and Malaysia was 50 years away from being formed. So if we were the majority back then(presumably more than 80% population) WHO IS THE DAVID COPPERFIELD WHO CONJURED US INTO 33%???

PBS, UPKO and PBRS has lost the plot, or rather we the indigenous people must realise that we are not getting the life for our children and their future we ought to have by supporting these parties, and they must be changed...

And change we must...come next GE13..

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written by Andykhai, August 05, 2010 22:35:13

study this issue and take the action to solve..all of us should support and help the govt to solve this problem smilies/wink.gif

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written by popuri, August 05, 2010 21:54:24

This illegal immigrant issue is nothing new. What we need now is a more viable way to keep them out and away.

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written by bulletpain, August 05, 2010 20:20:07

illegal is old issue, all party must be cooperate to solve this problem.

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written by lysa, August 05, 2010 19:54:15

And the people should also not rent any room/house to PTIs... I saw so many of Sabahans do that.... Having an affair with PTIs are prohibited.....

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written by Awang Hitam, August 05, 2010 05:53:04

PBS. Ask the Paki blood loony toon mamakthir to take up these illegal immigrants. He opened the flood gates in 1982 thru 2004. So he should take them as their father besides he has billions to absorb these pendatang haram.

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written by Better My, August 05, 2010 04:41:54

These are the some of problems that you Jeff K/PKR Sabah should be shouting again and again till the local get so worked out & aggro, instead of dreaming of the 21 new states for Sabah and sub-dreaming of being King in these states.

Work out how to indentify which migrants have voting rights and then court them.

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written by DPG, August 05, 2010 04:05:21

The illegal immigrant problem is the worst in Sabah. This may be due to the close-one-eye attitude of the UMNO/BN government, or open encouragement for these illegals to come in. After all, what UMNO wants is the vote from these illegals, so that UMNO can rule in perpetuity. And as for PBS, so what, I ask. You have committed yourselves to just "tugging" at UMNO's sarong to make yourself heard. What else can you do about it? Remember, you are part of the real bumiputeras of Sabah, but you can't do anything about the situation in Sabah. UMNO can't be bothered about what you want.

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written by LimD, August 05, 2010 03:34:58

If the problem does not solve as soon as possible, we end up becoming an alien in our own place.

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written by LimD, August 05, 2010 02:49:35

I think the illegal immigrants problem is not only faced in Sabah but also in other states of Malaysia. Hopefully the government will find a solution to this problem before it goes out of hand.

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written by sioponthan, August 05, 2010 02:43:53

i just want to know that the federal and state government is strive to bring those illegal immigrants out of Sabah. prove it to the Sabahan that the government is being run the efforts.

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written by Avex09, August 05, 2010 02:22:50

Drats, these thing with illegals is getting out of hand. If the Fed's keeps turning a blind eye on this matter, i doubt they will rule any much longer. Trust m

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written by Devoe, August 05, 2010 02:17:13

The fed is only care about its ' afghan ' thing. Let us face the reality.

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written by syd, August 05, 2010 02:11:05

Souirce of cheap labour. These illegals only paid RM300-400/ month. How to live on that pay, especially in sabah where cost of living is expensive.
The moment they have sufficient power capacity, i will think there will be investors queing up to invest in the state. The quality of life there reminds me of penang.

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written by andray, August 05, 2010 01:09:50

This problem will going to be around for a long time if the Feds. doesn't want to acknowledge the right of Sabah State Government to be consult first before any efforts to give PR status to those who hold IMM13 certificate...