Illegal immigrants: Only Pakatan government can resolve issue

Queville To

PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail's statement that a Pakatan Rakyat government would grant permanent residence status to Sabah illegal immigrants has confused many.

KOTA KINABALU: The only way to resolve the perennial illegal immigrant problem in Sabah is if Pakatan Rakyat forms the next Federal Government and sets up a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on the matter, according to opposition DAP.

State DAP chief Jimmy Wong said such a commission could then be headed by former vice-chairman of Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) Simon Sipaun, as proposed by DAP national advisor Lim Kit Siang.

“Sabah DAP is optimistic that an RCI will serve its purpose well as even some component parties of BN are supporting its establishment.

“The RCI will go to the root of the problem and make recommendations on how they can be mitigated or resolved once and for all,” said Wong.

He added that it has been clearly spelt out in the Orange Book or ”Buku Jingga” of Pakatan Rakyat, that the right approach is to establish a RCI.

He said this while responding to the recent statement made by PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail that a Pakatan Rakyat government would grant Permanent Resident (PR) status to illegal immigrants as a solution to the perennial problem.

He said Sabah DAP leaders were not at the press conference where Wan Azizah reportedly made this announcement.

“We only read her statement in the newspapers and therefore we are not in the position to make our stance on this matter until we meet her and ask for more details,” he said.

He maintained that Sabah DAP is very concerned about the problem of illegal immigrants especially when they had been allegedly systematically legalised and entered into the electoral roll to cement political control of the state by Umno and the BN.

He noted that books detailing the methodical approach of certain political parties and leaders in implementing the plan had not been refuted.