KOTA KINABALU: Only with the issuance of Sabah IC will Sabah’s sovereignty and security in Malaysia be guaranteed, said Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) Youth leader, Edward Dagul, yesterday.
“We want the rights and privileges of Sabahans to be guaranteed and protected as stipulated when Sabah helped to form Malaysia,” said Edward.
The proposed issuance of Sabah IC will ensure that only genuine Malaysians in Sabah are entitled to the rights accorded to citizens of the country, like employment, and to avoid the present messy situation when even illegal immigrants could be employed as armed guards who literally turned their guns on their employers, said Edward, when referring to the recent spate of violent crimes committed by holders of MyKads (supposedly fake) from Sabah in Kuala Lumpur.
He said that with Sabah IC, the government can also make sure that applications for land, scholarships, trade licenses and entry to public services are properly handled for those who qualify.
“It is in the SAPP manifesto that Sabah ICs may be issued to Malaysians who were in Sabah before August 31 in 1963 and to their descendants as a matter of right and to be issued to other genuine Malaysians who are permanently resident in Sabah,” reiterated Edward, who has been an outspoken activist on the illegal immigrant issue.
“As a matter of law, for the federal government to issue Sabahan status to foreigners contravenes the Malaysia Agreement and the Constitution under which Immigration into Sabah, like Sarawak, is under the power of the State government,” said Edward.
“Even the RCI on Illegal Immigrants in Sabah has taken note of the Sabah IC proposal, where at the request of the RCI panel, SAPP President Datuk Yong Teck Lee had submitted the party’s proposal on the mechanism to issue Sabah IC,” he said.