KOTA KINABALU: Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz has underestimated the intelligence of Sabahans on the real situation on the ground in his remarks on the presence of both legal and illegal immigrants in Sabah, according to Kota Kinabalu Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) chief Christina Liew.
She said Sabahans were not so naive like before as to blindly believe such Nazri’s assertion that the huge number of immigrrants does not pose security problems.
“How about sending these 890,000 illegal immigrants to the Peninsula for a start? It is not only petty crime, it is about bringing transmittable diseases, human trafficking, prostitution, drug trafficking and security problems to Sabah.
“Our KK city police have been doing a good job in busting some housebreaking gangs now and then, but it does not help to curb the influx of illegal immigrants who commit big crime.
“What can they do with the limited resources and manpower? The presence of these illegal immigrants is growing faster than that in any other state in Malaysia,” Christina said.
When replying to a question from Member of Parliament for Tuaran Datuk Seri Panglima Wilfred Bumburing on Tuesday, Nazri told the Parliamnet that the presence of the large number of immigrants did not undermine security in Sabah and monitoring is ongoing.
Meanwhile, when commenting on the same issue, PKR Youth chief Mohd Serman Hassnar said most Sabahans totally disagreed with Nazri’s statement as there are many problems linked to immigrants in Sabah, such as banditry, burglary, gambling, prostitution and murder.
He claimed that numerous crime cases involving immigrants in Kunak and Sandakan, including smuggling, gambling, prostitution, blackmail and gangsterism have been reported, but no action seemed to have been taken to solve them and bring the culprits to justice.