Why no action against self-styled Sulu sultan?

KOTA KINABALU: Opposition leader Jeffrey Kitingan has accused the government of double standard for failing to act against self-styled Sulu sultan Mohd Akjan Ali, whose ethnocentric views, he said, could trigger discord among the races in Sabah.

The Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku (STAR) president said Akjan’s views in a recent video that went viral could get an individual arrested under the Internal Security Act in the past, “like how I had experienced back in the 1990s”.

In the video, Akjan, who was responding to the scrapping of the Temporary Sabah Pass (PSS) plan, said there were over a million people in the state with Suluk, Bajau Ubian, Sibutu Simunul and Kagayan parentage who were “first class natives” under the Sabah constitution.

Jeffrey said Akjan was “clearly instigating his people” and had “insulted the indigenous communities in Sabah”.

“The underlying message was dangerous. What he said was factually wrong, but for his followers, they could easily take it as the truth,” he told reporters at his house in Bukit Padang here today.

He said Akjan had also issued a veiled threat in the video when he warned those who opposed him “not to disturb the hornet’s nest”.

SAPP president and former chief minister Yong Teck Lee also urged Akjan to stop making “outrageous claims” that Suluks were first class natives of Sabah.

He said Akjan should stop ridiculing the native status of other indigenous people in the state.

‘Govt has failed to ensure safety of Sabah’

Jeffrey said recent incidents like the scuffle between a group of Akjan’s supporters and Umno Youth member and blogger Papagomo at the Kota Kinabalu International Airport, the kidnapping of the five Indonesian workers off Tambisan island in Lahad Datu, and the confirmation by Deputy Home Minister Azis Jamman that a local terror group may be working in cahoots with the Abu Sayyaf group from the southern Philippines, showed the federal government had failed to ensure the safety of Sabah.

He said security was among the promises to Sabah when it joined Malaysia in 1963 and “despite 56 years of nationhood, the federal government has done nothing to improve the situation”.

He said the issue of Sabah’s security had been raised with Putrajaya numerous times.

‘New plan needed to solve migrants issue’

Jeffrey called on the government to come up with a new and comprehensive solution to the migrants problem, saying it should not give up just because the PSS plan had been scrapped following strong opposition.

He reiterated his proposals for the establishment of a homeland security ministry, a separate federal and state committee to deal with illegal immigrants, and reviving the Sabah border scout unit.

He said the authorities must close all rat trails or illegal entry points along Sabah’s borders but feared the related agencies might not be able to do so because of corruption among their officers.

On his opposition to the PSS plan, Jeffrey said it was a document aimed at legitimising foreigners who were actually illegals in Sabah.

He said the pass would also encourage more migrants to come to Sabah, and syndicates to forge the document for quick money.

“I implore the prime minister to resolve this issue. Close all the front and back doors, leave no room for them to enter the state illegally.

“Implement measures like the ‘Back for Good’ programme where the migrants can voluntarily return to their home country and if they still want to work here, they can get their passports done and get a work permit,” he said.

Jeffrey also clarified that he had not proposed citizenship for IMM13 refugees, but noted that by operation of law, they should be given special consideration to obtain such papers.

He said the IMM13 holders who came to Sabah as war refugees during the 1990s had stayed long enough to qualify for citizenship, and although the civil unrest in the southern Philippines was over, citizenship should also be offered to their children if they were eligible.

He said the children of the IMM holders may no longer have relatives in the Philippines after having stayed in Sabah for so long.

By Jason Santos