KOTA KINABALU: Parti Solidariti Tanahairku (Star) insists that all solutions are needed to resolve the decades-old problem of illegal foreigners in Sabah, with priority given to the implementation of the proposed Sabah IC to Sabahans.
Its Vice President Kenny Chua said that the proposed Sabah IC to Sabahans will not only separate the locals and the foreigners but also weed out foreigners who are holding dubious documents.
“The problem is that it’s hard to tell who is holding a genuine or false document. All this is because of the issue of the Projek IC that continues to haunt and hurt us. It has changed the demographics of our beloved state.
“So, what choice do we have other than wanting to issue our own Sabah IC to Sabahans. And it is important that the issuing agency must be under the Sabah Government,” he said in a statement.
Chua disagreed with Warisan Vice President Datuk Jaujan Sambakong who suggested that the proposed Sabah IC to Malaysians in Sabah was not the solution to the problem dubious documents.
The Sulabayan assemblyman instead said that the Native Courts needed to be empowered to assist in confirming the origin of any applicant for Malaysian citizenship.
“How could Jaujan say the proposed Sabah IC is not the solution? Of course the Native Courts can play their role. In fact, it would be better for all our systems and institutions to be working as a unit so that we can cross check every single application,” he said.
He argued that the process to determine the origin of an applicant may take a long time and can be abused.
“I’d ask Jaujan how on earth someone who originates from Pakistan could be holding a Malaysian IC. Did a community leader declare that he was born in a certain village to a certain local family?” asked Chua.
He said it is actually not difficult to tell between Sabahans and foreigners if the system is
transparent and without any political interference.
“And who knows more than one-third of people in Sabah only arrived in the state some years ago or more. Unlike us, they don’t have ancestors that we can trace three or four generations before us. And these newcomers later gave birth to kids who are stateless and these kids, who are adults now, continue to have kids of their own. It has become a inter-generational mess.”
“But this should have never been our problem. We’ve been forced to inherit it. So, now what’s wrong with us wanting our own Sabah IC to determine who the Sabahans are and who are not? If we can’t resolve the issue fully, at least we would have done half of the total solution.
“We will need the Native Courts to assist. But we will also cross check through other existing channels. And we can also cross check with the community an applicant claims to belong. They can tell us who the parents, grandparents and great grandparents are. They can tell us where they studied and who were their former schoolmates. These information provides some proof of their origin,” he said.
Chua also said that Jaujan has contradicted his own party man, Datuk Darell Leiking, who is Warisan Deputy President.
When Warisan was in power, Darell had reiterated his stance in wanting the federal government consider the issuance of Sabah IC.
He proposed that the Sabah IC could be used with the MyKad.
He had said then that the Sabah IC would be used to identify who the real Sabahans were.
“I wonder why the Semporna and Penampang reps in Warisan are divided on this matter. It would be interesting to know the stance of the party president Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal. Is he supportive of Darell or Jaujan?” he asked.-pr/BNN
