APS: What more proof does Darell want?

KENINGAU - Angkatan Perpaduan Sabah (APS) has challenged Parti Warisan Sabah Deputy President Datuk Darell Leiking to act on the recommendations of the 2012 Royal Commission of Inquiry on illegal immigrants in Sabah.

Its vice president Paul Kadau said Leiking should stop asking for proof from certain people who have alleged that his party was assisting illegal immigrants but show the government of the day is determined to act on the recommendations.

“The RCI report has all the evidence but Kuala Lumpur still has not tabled a white paper in Parliament because many people will be implicated. So, why is Leiking and Warisan not acting on this?

“The people are well aware about how so many illegal immigrants have been queuing up at the Commissioners of Oath’s offices to get their documents certified. So, what more proof does he want?” he asked.

He was commenting on Leiking’s statement recently where he said the allegations that Warisan was assisting illegal immigrants was a slander against the party.

Leiking said he had always asked for proof from those who accused Warisan of abetting illegal immigrants but none could back up their allegations with solid evidence.

Paul said APS concurs with Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia’s Sabah coordinator Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor who had said that Sabahans, particularly the indigenous community, were very worried over how the Sabah government plans on handling the illegal immigrant problem in the state.

Hajiji had said over the weekend that the announcement by the State Government on the illegal immigrant legalization programme, giving of documents to stateless people and the latest proposal by Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal to place Filipino illegals at islands close to the border was making the people very anxious.

Hajiji said this in defence of a speech he made during a PPBM event that was spread on social media. In the video, he said that he disagreed with the government’s plan to document illegal immigrants. Instead, he insisted any documentation should come from their country of origin, not by the Malaysian government.

Paul said APS also agrees with Parti Cinta Sabah (PCS) President Datuk Seri Wilfred Bumburing who had said that the burden of proof lies on the government to convince the people it has never been involved in assisting illegal immigrants in Sabah.

Bumburing insisted that the government could do it as it has the means to do so.

Deputy Home Minister Datuk Azis Jamman had clarified that the documentation drive was only a proposal to address the stateless problem in the country and not an attempt to turn illegal immigrants in Sabah into citizens.