Sabah RCI: Sabah in intensive care, says ex-CM Yong

KOTA KINABALU - The pressing issue of illegals in Sabah can only be addressed by the people of Sabah themselves, said former chief minister Datuk Yong Teck Lee.

He told the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on illegal immigrants in Sabah today said the current situation in Sabah was already at a critical stage and urgently needed a solution.

“We are already seeing the implications of this problem like the Lahad Datu intrusion recently. Who knows what else is going to happen,” he said, adding “it is going to be difficult (to solve the problem) because I consider we are now in ICU (intensive care unit).It’s already critical.

However Yong said it is not impossible for the problem to be solved because there are viable solutions by tackling the root causes and there must be political will.

“Remove racial and religious prejudices from the issue,” responded Yong when asked by RCI chairman Tan Sri Steve Shim Lip Kiong to provide solutions on how to solve the problem.

“Hence, it is my strongly held view that the issue of illegal immigration and citizenship must be detached from racial and religious considerations.”

Yong also told the inquiry SAPP has also submitted 14-point proposals entitled ‘Time for Direct Preventive Actions’ to the Federal Government in October 2006.

He said based on the Malaysia Agreement 1963, the Inter-Governmental Committee (IGC) Report 1962 and the Cobbold Commission Report 1962, Clause VIII of the Malaysia Agreement 1963 stipulated that Chapter III of the IGC Report shall be implemented including paragraph 16 –‘Immigration’ into the Borneo states of Sabah and Sarawak.

Only Sabah has power to grant Sabahan status to others

“Therefore, it is unconstitutional and in breach of the Malaysia Agreement 1963 and therefore null and void, for the Malaysian Federal government to grant Sabahan status to new citizens,” he contended.

“I am referring to the “12″ digit MyKad and any other citizenship documents issued by the Federal Government to foreigners. Only Sabah has the power to grant Sabahan status to other Malaysians.

“Failure to respect, honour and accept the spirit and letter of the formation of Malaysia will jeopardise the existence of Malaysia,” said Yong.

To mitigate the citizenship problem, he said Sabah can practise ‘self-help’ such as issuing Sabah ICs to genuine Malaysians in Sabah – and enforce the Malaysia Agreement 1963.

Yong, who is Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) president, said the state government could issue Sabah identity cards (ICs) to genuine Malaysians in the state.

“Sabah may pass a new ordinance, at the state assembly sitting, to issue the Sabah ICs to original Sabahans and their descendants who were in North Borneo or now Sabah on Aug 31, 1963 and became automatic citizens under the terms of the Malaysia Agreement.

“All other Malaysians have to apply to become Sabahans. Kuala Lumpur has no power to grant Sabahans status,” he elaborated.

Proposed Sabah IC not a new citizenship document

According to Yong, Sabah needed a State Registration Ordinance to establish a framework and form a state registration department which would deal with the issuance of the proposed Sabah IC.

However, he stressed that the Sabah IC was not a new citizenship document, but rather an identification document for use in the state such as for immigration, land, state civil service, licensing and other state government purposes.

Yong told the inquiry that the presence of illegal immigrants in Sabah was contributed by the migration of people from poor provinces in neighbouring countries resulting in a ‘push factor’, driving the immigrants out of their native countries to seek economic improvement.

He noted that when the Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and Philippines East Asean Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) was established to implement regional peace and prosperity, there was a reverse flow of immigrants returning to their native land due to the economic prosperity back home.

“In the case of Sabah, there are many ‘ex-Malaysians’ who have returned to Mindanao and Kalimantan.

“I came across Malay-speaking ‘ex-Malaysians’ when I visited Kalimantan and they told me that they had returned home as Kalimantan had opened up one million hectares of oil palm plantation which attracted many Indonesians to return from Sabah and the workers did not have to pay levy and face harassment from Malaysian authorities,” he said.

Unlike Kalimantan, Yong said the BIMP-EAGA had not fully addressed the situation plaguing Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines.

“If the BIMP-EAGA’s regularisation programme had been successfully followed up, the illegal immigrant problem in Sabah would have been mitigated to a large extent,” he added.

Also on the panel are former Universiti Malaysia Sabah vice-chancellor Datuk Dr Kamaruzzaman Ampon, former Kuala Lumpur police chief Datuk Henry Chin Poy Wu, former Sabah state secretary Datuk KY Mustapha and former deputy chief minister Tan Sri Herman J Luping, who is also former state attorney-general. – With additional reporting by BERNAMA