KOTA KINABALU: The illegal immigrant issues in the state continue to be the Eastern Sabah Security Command (ESSCom)’s biggest challenge in ensuring the success of its security measures.
Describing illegal immigrants as the ‘mother of all evils’, ESSCom Intelligence Coordination officer ACP Hassim Justin said illegal immigrants remained as the culprits behind crimes committed in the state.
According to Hassim, recent statistics showed that there were currently 132,345 illegal immigrants in the state, the biggest number coming from the Philippines, at 82,457, followed by Indonesia at 45,768.
“This leads to other issues such as questionable allegiance, whereby telling allies from non-allies of cross-border kidnapping culprits are made difficult, contributing to the challenges faced by ESSCom and the security forces in trying to ensure the safety and security of the Eastern Sabah Security Zone (ESSZone),” he said.
The influx of illegal immigrants in the state had also led to the increase in squatter settlements around the state.
He disclosed that recent statistics recorded a total of 132,345 illegal immigrants currently residing in Sabah and 543 squatter settlement areas.
“In Lahad Datu alone, there are a total of 30,055 illegal immigrants in 130 squatter settlement areas. In Beluran, there are 90 squatter settlements and 11,265 illegal immigrants, 14,185 illegal immigrants in Semporna and 14 squatter settlements, 12,720 illegal immigrants and 11 squatter settlements in Tawau, and the biggest number of illegal immigrants is in Sandakan, 44,460 and 30 squatter settlements,” said Hassim at the Jelajah Dialog Media Programme 2014 at Promenade Hotel here yesterday.
Hassim admitted that one of the contributing factors to the influx of illegal immigrants in the state is dishonest conduct by enforcement agencies, added with lack of manpower and ageing assets.
“Other than these, economical factors, earlier migrations that had led to generations and familial ties, and the closeness of international borders, among others,” he said.
Hassim added that the existence of stateless people in the ESSZone area, whose main economic activity is fishing, also contributed to the difficulty in separating ill-meaning culprits from normal citizens.
Imposing curfews or conducting security scans on every fisherman would affect their economic activity, he said.
Despite ESSCom’s best efforts, he said geographical factors including the vastness of the sea as well as the width of the areas that fall under ESSCom’s responsibility, made safeguarding the borders difficult and almost impossible to achieve total security.
“We’re looking after the security of more than 350 islands, 83 of which are in Semporna alone.
“Our men are sent to the sea to safeguard the borders 24 hours a day and some even have to stay where they are assigned to for two to three days. And still, incidents occur,” he said.
Hassim pointed out that ESSCom will be accelerating its efforts to improve the security of ESSZone.
The dialogue was organised by the Ministry of Communication and Multimedia Malaysia and Information Department Sabah. It also consisted of a talk by the Customs Department on the Goods and Services Tax (GST).