KOTA KINABALU: Those who have any recommendations, ideas or suggestions on how to resolve the issues on the presence of illegal immigrants in Sabah are invited to submit them to the Working Committee on the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on the presence of illegal immigrants in Sabah’s secretariat.
Committee chairman Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan said the recommendations, ideas or suggestions can be sent in writing to the secretariat which is located at the Chief Minister’s Department.
The secretariat is jointly headed by State Secretary Tan Sri Sukari Wakiman and State Federal Secretary Datuk Borhan Dolah.
“We will scrutinize the recommendations, proposals and ideas in order to find ways to resolve the problem of the presence of illegal immigrants in Sabah,” Pairin told a press conference after chairing the working committee’s first meeting in Wisma Innoprise here yesterday.
“During the meeting we went through the five Terms of Reference recommended by the RCI and made a few amendments to the first Term of Reference,” he said, adding that with the meeting yesterday it would put to rest doubts on the committee’s existence.
The Deputy Chief Minister said that recommendations from all quarters such as NGOs, political parties and individuals are welcomed and would be discussed by the committee during its monthly meetings.
He also said that the committee was in the process of formulating an action plan towards the resolution of the problem, hence it is still open to any input from all quarters.
“We have a few proposals in mind and if there is any need, we may call some of the individuals, NGOs or political parties to meet with the committee to brief or clarify their recommendations, proposals or ideas,” he said.
Pairin added that the committee hoped to be able to complete its duties by the end of the year in line with the target of achieving the status of zero illegal immigrants by 2020.
When asked to comment on requests for NGOs and opposition parties’ representatives to be included as members of the committee, Pairin said that as all those interested to help resolve the problem can submit their input, there is no need for it.
“We will call any of them who are interested to forward their views (so there is) no need for them to be permanent members but we would like to meet up with them to talk about it. We are not here to prevent anybody to come forward with the suggestions as we welcome all the input,” he stressed.
Pairin added that although the committee was in the process of gathering the input needed, operation by security forces and enforcement agencies would still be ongoing so as to prevent more illegal immigrants from entering the state.
Members of the Working Committee on the Royal Commission of Inquiry on the presence of illegal immigrants in Sabah’s Working Committee include the Home Ministry’s Deputy Chief Secretary, directors of both the National Registration and Immigration Departments, Police Commissioner of Sabah, Sabah Attorney General, state Immigration and National Registration Departments’ directors, ESSCom director and the state government’s Internal Affairs and Research secretary.