KOTA KINABALU: UPKO Education, Policy and Government Policy Bureau chairman Petrus C. Mojuntin has called on the federal government to construct naval bases in Sandakan and Kudat.
The UPKO Youth exco said the naval bases would strengthen the security level in the north and eastern parts of Sabah.
He said it was also good if a permanent army base was built in Kudat to cover the coastal area from Pitas to Paitan, in response to the abduction incident in Sandakan on Thursday night.
Petrus said people in Sabah were shocked and angry with what had happened in Sandakan.
“I had patronised the restaurant a few times when I was in Sandakan last year and it is worrying to know that the security in Sandakan has been compromised,” he said.
Petrus in a statement yesterday also urged the government to be serious in resolving the problem of intrusions by foreigners as well as to flush out illegal immigrants from Sabah.
“The federal government must be serious in combating this illegal immigrant problem if they want to see an increased support from Sabahans,” he said. “Help us to help you.”
Petrus also claimed that it was an open secret that deported illegal immigrants had been known to come back to Sabah using different names to avoid detection by the security forces.
To this end, biometrics is very important so that the Malaysian authorities have on record who has been deported and their attempts to re-enter the state under a different identity can be thwarted, he stressed.