Exercise power on immigration matters, Sabah Govt urged

KOTA KINABALU: Parti Bersatu Sabah secretary general, Datuk Henrynus Amin, urged the Sabah Government to exercise its rightful power or proper role on state immigration matters as provided for by the Federal Constitution.He said, while immigration is a federal matter, Sabah and Sarawak have a unique arrangement under the Malaysia Agreement in 1963 whereby both states were accorded certain control over state immigration.

“These are special rights to Sabah and Sarawak recognized by the international community including the United Nation as the sponsor and facilitator for the successful creation of the nation of Malaysia,” he said.

Henrynus said it is important for Sabah to take a close look at the constitutional provision on state immigration so that whatever little power or residual power the state has on immigration can be effectively used to curb the growing threats of the transient population.

While this is not denying the role played by federal agencies such as the immigration department, the fact remains that Sabah seems powerless to legislate or enforce its own laws in spite of the constitutional provision for state control on foreign entry to Sabah.

He said the people of Sabah are puzzled and could not understand the apparent powerlessness of the federal government and its numerous agencies and departments to deal with illegal immigration.

It is therefore absolutely necessary for the state government to have the right mechanism or tools to enforce its obligation under the federal constitution.

Henrynus said he would bring up this proposal to the PBS Supreme Council and from there to the Chief Minister and then the Prime Minister or relevant Ministries at the federal level.

He said this is even more important given the stand taken by the Federal Government to treat the issue of illegal immigrants not as a national priority.

He said under this condition, the only realistic solution is to empower the state to enforce its constitutional obligation on immigration.

“Therefore, logically Sabah should build the proper institutions under state control to exercise its immigration power instead of relying on the federal immigration department which has not shown positive results,” he said.

“This is quite proper as the Chief Minister is the chairman of the State Security Committee,” he said.

He said PBS would not be perturbed by opposition criticism of the PBS stand on the issue of illegal immigrants, and stressed that “politicizing the issue will not resolve the problem”.

He said PBS record on the issue is clear, and regardless of opposition propaganda belittling PBS contributions, the party will continue to apply pressure or work from within the BN framework to bring about lasting solution to the problem if illegal immigration.”

He said PBS would continue to engage the federal government and the relevant agencies constructively as well as work with any person or group or organization of similar agenda to bring the issue of illegal immigration and related issues such as fraudulent citizenship, phantom voters, etc to the national agenda.

“This is a political process that will take time, but PBS recognizes the urgency as time may not be on the side of the people of Sabah.”

For that matter, he said PBS would thoroughly study the report by the special laboratory on foreign workers and illegal immigration and would support any good recommendation in the interest of the people of Sabah.