Star hails Harris statement on ‘false’ police reports

KOTA KINABALU: The State Reform Party (Star) has welcomed former Sabah Chief Minister Harris Salleh’s statement in the local media on Saturday that the Police should bring to Court those who lodge “false” police reports on the issuance of MyKads and other Malaysian personal documents and throw the book at them.

“The police should take Harris’s statement seriously,” said Star deputy chairman Daniel John Jambun. “It’s a bit of a mystery on why the Police continue to ignore reports on the alleged issuance of Malaysian personal documents to illegal immigrants and other foreigners.”

Daniel however begged to differ with Harris on the alleged reports being false and that the police are ignoring such reports because they were false.

He pointed out that the Police are yet to announce any determination by them on whether such reports were false or otherwise.

He attributed this to Bukit Aman reportedly issuing directives to Sabah Police instructing it not to pursue any police reports lodged on the phenomenon.

Such reports are also routinely deleted from the computerized Police system, he alleged. “If Mongolian model Altantuya’s entry into Malaysia can be deleted from the Immigration system, as it emerged in Court, there’s no reasons why the Police cannot delete all police reports lodged on the issuance of Malaysian personal documents to illegal immigrants and other foreigners in Sabah.”

Similarly, claimed Daniel, each time that illegal immigrants were rounded up by the authorities in Sabah, “someone would produce a letter from someone high up in Government instructing the authorities to release the illegal immigrants. The illegals just openly laugh at us and mock us because they know someone desperately needs their votes.”

“Harris seems to get all worked up whenever illegal immigrants are mentioned in Sabah,” said Daniel. “His standard response has been to deny that such a phenomenon exists and at the same time to parrot that the Federal Government has a right to issue Malaysian personal documents”.

No one denies the right of the Federal Government to issue Malaysian personal documents, continued Daniel. “It’s only the Federal Government which can have such a right.”

At the same time, belaboured the Star deputy chairman, no one in his right mind will advocate that the Federal Government has the right to issue Malaysian personal documents to any Tom, Dick and Harry and in violation of the Federal Constitution, the relevant laws and the rights of Sabah and Sarawak in Malaysia”.

“It’s a known fact that the Federal Government has been acting above the law in issuing Malaysian personal documents in Sabah. The evidence is all around us. Sabahans are not blind. They can differentiate between locals and illegal immigrants,” said Daniel. “All this is being done just to add phantom voters to the electoral rolls.”

Daniel fumed that even where such personal documentation is not entered in the system at the Jabatan Pendaftaran Negara (JPN) in Sabah, they are entered in Putrajaya, and where they are not, they continue to exist on the Electoral Rolls.

Daniel commended JPN Sabah for not getting involved in the issuance of Malaysian personal documents to illegal immigrants and other foreigners in the state.

At the same time, he raised the possibility of rogue elements among JPN Sabah out to make a quick buck by peddling blank Malaysian personal documents to illegal immigrants and other foreigners through so-called middlemen.

“The recent arrests in Sabah point in this direction,” said Daniel. “Harris himself has touched on this as if to make out that this was the entire problem.”

He however stressed that the phenomenon of illegal immigrants and other foreigners possessing genuine documents which they are not entitled to is further compounded by their details being entered in the Electoral Rolls by the Election Commission (EC) “which doesn’t ask any questions”.

The EC, alleged Daniel, was deaf, dumb and blind when it came to the presence of illegal immigrants and other foreigners on the electoral rolls. “They are also like the three monkeys – see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil,” said Daniel. “All of them are like the ostrich with the head buried in the sand.”

He said that three other kinds of Malaysian personal documentation issued to illegal immigrants and foreigners in Sabah were also all entered in the electoral rolls i.e. not listed at JPN Sabah and therefore not eligible to travel outside the state, listed at JPN Putrajaya only and eligible to travel within Malaysia, listed in Putrajaya and issued with Malaysian passports.

“The cover-up on the issuance of Malaysian personal documents to illegal immigrants and other foreigners is taking place in Putrajaya,” said Daniel. “This is evident in all the police reports lodged so far.”

Daniel reiterated that Bukit Aman must allow Sabah Police to move on the police reports lodged in the state on the issuance of Malaysian personal documents to illegal immigrants and other foreigners in Sabah.

“This is all the more important since there’s no sign of the proposed Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on the illegal immigrant phenomenon in Sabah,” he said. “The Police need not wait for the RCI either.”

Daniel John Jambun is Deputy Chairman, State Reform Party (Star)