Sabah already too ‘overgenerous’ – ex-legal practitioner

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Augustine

KOTA KINABALU: A former legal practitioner has urged the State Government not to proceed with its plan to issue the Sabah Temporary Pass (STP) to illegal immigrants in Sabah, as the state had already been ‘overgenerous’ in accepting them in the past.

Augustine Saang explained that Sabah had never anticipated such issuance of temporary passes, as it was never stated during the formation of Malaysia, in the Malaysian Agreement 1963 (MA63) or in the 20-Points Agreement.

He disagreed with the present government’s reasoning behind the issuance of the STP – which was to rectify the IMM13, Kad Burung-Burung and census certificates.

He said some of the documents might have been falsely issued.

“Therefore if they were falsely issued, why do you want to continue with STP? If these documents (Kad Burung-Burung and census certificates) were already illegal, why would you perpetuate the wrong by issuing the STP?” said Augustine in a statement.

“This country belongs to the original Sabahans. We cannot afford to take anymore,” he added.

Augustine has vast experience in the state civil sector, having served in the Attorney-General’s (AG) Chambers, the Sabah Forestry Department and Sabah Bank between the 1980s and 1990s.

He is of the opinion that all the aforementioned documents should be confiscated and the holders should be sent back to their respective countries.

“Even if we couldn’t send them back, the immigrants should not be placed in Sabah alone. Why don’t send some of them to the other states of Malaysia,” he said.

He also said that being a political refugee does not automatically give one a ticket to obtain citizenship.

He suggested that, in the event the STP were to be officially issued, the STP must contain a clause that clearly states that the document would and should never be used as an instrument to obtain citizenship.

“Some of these immigrants had entered Sabah through the ‘backdoor’. Are we going to perpetuate the problem of backdoor entries through the implementation of the STP?” he asked.

“On top of that, the recent claims made by the Philippines and Sulu Islands on Sabah, why should we invite more people from their country to stay here. The STP will only create a much bigger problem,” added Augustine.

He said that the immigrants in Sabah should be thankful that the state had already accepted so many of them – from countries such as the Philippines, Indonesia, Pakistan and so on.

“Enough is enough! We want to close the door,” he stressed.

Furthermore, he fears that the issuance of the STP may also serve as a precedent, that the immigrants may ask for more equality.

He had also commented on claims that the Barisan Nasional (BN) government had initially wanted to issue a similar temporary pass and thus the Pakatan Harapan (PH)-Warisan government merely wanted to correct the problem.

“The fact that BN had lost in the recent election was a direct or indirect way of telling BN that the people did not agree with how they dealt with the illegal immigrant issue in the state.

“If PH-Warisan were to repeat the same mistakes, they would be an ‘OTG’, a one-term government,” said Augustine.

One other problem with the implementation of STP is when it comes to determining the good character of the recipients of the document, a requirement that Augustine believes is extremely vital if one wishes to reside in Sabah.

He went on to explain that in the late 1960s, tensions in the Philippines gave way to the entry of the refugees from the Sulu Islands to Sabah.

He said that these people were recognised by the United Nations as true political refugees, who had to flee due to safety concerns.

However, he opined that Sabah accepted the refugees only because it wanted to provide temporary shelter for them.

He believes that even Tun Mustapha Harun, who was the Chief Minister and Usno leader then, had never wanted the refugees to reside in Sabah permanently.

“That was why the refugees were only placed in community halls,” he said.

Augustine alleged that some of the refugees then took advantage of the good treatment given by the Sabah government, claiming that they did so due to social and economic reasons.

“Then, from 1975 onward, new people such as Indonesians, Pakistanis, Indians and others came to Sabah for job opportunities,” he said, adding that during the Berjaya era (1975 to 1985), the main influx of immigrants consisted of those from Indonesia, which he suspected had reached more than half a million.

In April 1985, PBS took over and attempted to reduce the number of illegal immigrants in the state.

He reckoned that there are probably around two to three million illegal immigrants in Sabah right now.

“Many of them, over the years, had managed to obtain their own original ICs, be it legally or illegally,” he added.