Berjaya gov't settled 73k Filipinos in Sabah

Seventy-three thousand refugees from Philippines were allowed to settle permanently in Sabah by the state government between 1970 to 1984, the Royal A total of 73,000 refugees from Philippines were allowed to settle permanently in Sabah by the state government between 1970 and 1984, the royal commission of inquiry (RCI) on immigrants in Sabah was told today.

Abdul Jaafar Alip (below), the chief of Settlement Unit within the Chief Minister's Department, told the RCI that one of the conditions to qualify for settlement was that the refugees had to be Muslims.

Other conditions were that the refugees must be from Region Nine of Philipines, also known as Western Mindanao or Zamboanga Peninsula, and directly affected by the ongoing conflict there and that they intended to stay in Sabah permanently.

"Refugees and displaced persons are different things. As for the status of displaced persons, to qualify, the conditions are the same, except that they do not necessarily need to be Muslims.

"We accept people of any religion to be displaced people," Abdul Jaafar told the inquiry at the Kota Kinabalu High Court complex this afternoon.

Abdul Jaafar, who headed the Settlement Unit from 1984 to 2008, said five such refugee settlements have been established - the Telipok and Kinarut settlements in Kota Kinabalu, Kampung Bahagia in Sandakan, Kampung Selamat in Sempoerna and the Hidayah settlement in Tawau.

A sixth was in Labuan, but was not included as the territory as it is now under federal control.

He added that other than this, there were at least 33 known refugee villages scattered across Sabah.

Not recognised by NRD

He explained that his officers would interview potential refugees at the Resettlement Unit office and determine if they qualified for the status.

"If they qualify, we issue them a receipt of registration acknowledgement, which will then be submitted to the Immigration Department for form IMM13 (Pas Lawatan Pekerja)," he said.

Abdul Jaafar, who is the third witness before the RCI, added that they would also be issued with a settlement identification card.

However, he said, none of these documents were recognised by the National Registration Department (NRD) as they were only for the Chief Minister's Department record.

To date, he said, the department still has a record of all their information, including photographs.

Abdul Jaafar added that, however, the programme was abruptly suspended in 1985, when there was a change in the state government at the time.

Asked by conducting officer Manoj Kurup whether this was the result of Parti Bersatu Sabah ousting the BN coalition led by Parti Berjaya, he replied that it was a possibility.

More Filipinos made settlers in 2007

Under the new administration, Abdul Jaafar said the unit, together with the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), was tasked to conduct a census of all illegal immigrants in the state, regardless of where they came from.

"In the first phase, we went to houses that we believed foreigners were living in and conducted a census and in the second phase, we registered them," he said.

After registration, Abdul Jaafar explained, the illegal immigrants, numbering at 325,000, were issued a document called the temporary registration card between 1986 to 1992 but this, too, did not involve the NRD.

However, he said in 2007, a new census was conducted with the aim of identifying Filipinos who were not in the system but qualified for refugee status according to the same criteria as before.

"When we checked back the census done between 1987 to 1992, we found there were still Filipinos who qualified for refugee status, for example, those that came in in 1994, were Muslims, and other related conditions.

"So, this matter was brought to the higher ups in a series of meetings with the Immigration Department, NRD, police and state welfare department and we were allowed to do a new round of census and registration of refugees" he said.

Abdul Jaafar said this new round of granting Filipinos refugee status and settle them locally was similar to the earlier one between 1970 to 1984.

However, before the documents could be submitted to the immigration department for the issuance of IMM13 like the first time, Abdul Jaafar said he was transferred to the Sabah Water Department.

"I do not know what happened after that," he said.

The RCI, led by former chief judge of Sabah and Sarawak Steve Shim Lip Kiong (left), is tasked with, among others, determining the reasons for the population boom in Sabah.

It will also determine whether the illegal immigrants received citizenship through legal or illegal means, and whether they have been included in the electoral roll.

The inquiry, which started today, will continue until Jan 18. The second and third sessions have been scheduled for Jan 28 to Feb 1 and Feb 22 to 27.

Nigel Aw