Resolve the Sabah PTI problems before thinking of Bangladeshis

KOTA KINABALU - The silence of the RCI Technical working committee to reveal the findings and the recommendations of the committee begs the question on what are the priorities of the Sabah BN leadership, said Edward Dagul, SAPP Deputy President in a press statement issued yesterday.

“It has been more than a month since we made the call to the RCI technical working committee led by Deputy Chief Minister, Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan to make known to the people of Sabah what are the outcome of the findings and recommendations of the committee are, stated Edward.

“Has this problem been reduced to a non critical issue? Is it an issue that can be delayed indefinitely?

Edward Dagul

It has taken Sabahans more than a decade to see the eventual formation of the RCI on the illegal immigrants problem in Sabah. Now that the RCI has concluded its findings, the people are eagerly awaiting on what and how the government intends to implement programmes, in order to alleviate Sabah’s perennial problem. It is disheartening to note that there seems to be no further progress from the government to resolve the illegal immigrant problem in Sabah.

“Are we going to witness yet another BN election gimmick, where the issue is tackled only to bait voters?

On a related subject, the recent announcement by the newly appointed Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Zahid Hamidi that another 1.5 million workers from Bangladesh will be brought in to the country, has caused many Sabahans anxiety.

The eerie silence on the part of Sabah’s BN leaders leads to speculations that a fair percentage of these Bangladeshis are flooding in to Sabah to work at Sabah’s plantations and construction sites.

“Why has there been no comments from our State leaders? Are they agreeable to such an arrangement?

We need to resolve the decades old problem of Sabah’s illegal immigrants before entertaining any thought of recruiting 1.5million workers from another country (Bangladesh), an enormous number of migrant workers, concluded Edward.