STP not RCI’s recommendation on illegal immigrants

0

The Black Sunday gathering to protest the implementation of the STP.

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) president, Datuk Seri Panglima Yong Teck Lee, yesterday said the Sabah Temporary Pass (STP) was never a recommendation of the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on illegal immigrants in Sabah.

He claimed that it was misleading to say that the STP was a continuation from the previous government and recommended in the RCI.

Yong said he had reread the RCI report yesterday morning in which there was no proposal on the STP.

“I have read the RCI report again. It is not there.

“Tell me where in the RCI report is the STP because it is not mentioned,” he said when met at the Black Sunday gathering to protest against the implementation of STP at Lintasan Deasoka here yesterday.

Also present were Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku (STAR) president Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan and Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) information chief cum Kiulu asssemblyman Datuk Joniston Bangkuai.

The temporary pass will be issued in June 1 next year to foreigners in Sabah who hold the IMM13 document, ‘Burung-Burung’ card or census certificate.

Yong also took Deputy Home Minister Datuk Azis Jamman to task for questioning whether the gathering has obtained police permit.

“There are 600,000 illegal immigrants in Sabah, do they have police permit or immigration permit?”

He said the Home Ministry and the government have the responsibility to prevent people from entering Malaysia, including Sabah, illegally.

Yong said the STP would open the doors for more illegal immigrants to enter Sabah.

On the government’s move to work with the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) to vaccinate migrants, especially the undocumented ones in Sabah, Yong said health problems were bound to arise when there was a huge population of illegal immigrants entering without proper control anywhere in the world, whether it was the Middle East, Europe or America.

“Today it is polio (in Sabah), tomorrow it can be other health issues. This is something the government should have anticipated all along but now they want to give free vaccination.

“They want to cure the problem which they allow to come in the first place,” he added.

He added that taxpayers were the ones who would be paying for the vaccinations of the illegal immigrants.