Illegals: Solutions Ready But No Political Will

“There are ample ready and workable solutions to the illegal immigrants and illegal voters problems in Sabah but there is no political will to have them implemented” said Datuk Dr. Jeffrey Kitingan, STAR Sabah Chief in response to PM Najib’s challenge to Sabah to come up with solutions to the illegals problems in Sabah.

Najib’s own statement is clear testimony that there is no political will by the federal government and Umno leaders to resolve the long standing illegal immigrants’ issue where up to 1.5 million foreigners, many of them declared to be born again in Sabah when they are not, have been given dubious ICs and MyKads and then unlawfully entered into the electoral rolls.

There is no spine in the call for Sabah to come up with the solutions when after the publication of the RCI Report, there was the establishment of the Technical Committee on Migrants Management  which reports to the main Cabinet Committee co-chaired by DPM Zahid and CM Musa.

It is a sheer passing of the buck from the RCI to the Technical Committee chaired by Tan Sri Pairin who in turn has to submit its Report to the Main Committee and then now passing the “hot potato” back to Sabah.

If the Federal and Sabah governments are serious about resolving the illegal immigrants and illegal voters issues, the ready and workable solutions include the following:-

1. Sabah should be allowed to establish an additional ministry to be responsible for Sabah Homeland Security;
2. Sabah should establish by enactment a Sabah Registration Enactment and Sabah Registration Department;
3. Sabah government should issue a Sabah IC for genuine Sabahans;
4. Only genuine Sabahans should be allowed to be voters in Sabah elections and other Malaysians in Sabah including the police, army, navy and civil servants as well as Sarawakians should vote in the respective home constituencies not in Sabah constituencies;
5. Project IC and doubtful ICs/voters should be purged from the national registry and removed from the electoral rolls;
6. Immigration in Sabah should be under the control of the Sabah government and not under federal control;
7. Foreign workers should be given yearly work passes and fees should be paid to the respective State governments;
8. For others, the Sabah government should issue Resident Passes, valid for 3 to 5 years, and subject to review and renewal by the Sabah government through the Homeland Security Ministry;
9. Only qualified foreigners should be allowed to apply for citizenship and be considered in accordance with the law and only the Sabah government can determine whether the successful applicant should be a Sabahan or not and the National Registration Department should not decide on the recognition as Sabahans as every Sabahan is a Malaysian but not every Malaysian is a Sabahan;
10. The federal immigration and registration department directors in Sabah should be headed by local Sabahans and staffed mainly by Sabahans;
11. The Sabah Border Scouts and Sabah Rangers and Field Force should be revived as Sabah government enforcement and security apparatus.

The federal immigration and national registration departments can no longer be allowed to operate on the same basis as before as they have failed to carry out their duties as required under the Federal Constitution.   Their failures have substantially contributed to the illegal immigrants’ problems in Sabah which are compounded by the Election Commission who have entered ineligible voters unlawfully in the electoral rolls as pointed out in the RCI Report.   

The problem is so bad now that even errant immigration and registration officers dare to act with impunity and are still issuing ICs and MyKads and immigration passes to unqualified foreigners.

The real issue is not what PM Najib has made it out to be that Sabah should come up with solutions.   The solutions are at hand, the real issue is whether the federal and Sabah governments are brave enough to implement these solutions as any solution will have negative implications on Umno and its membership and on Barisan Nasional and their “fixed deposit” in Sabah.