Felix
KOTA KINABALU: United Progressive Kinabalu Organisation (UPKO) Youth has urged the current government to be more firm, sincere and bold in handling the illegal immigrants or ‘kumpit-kumpit’ issue in the state.
Its chief, Felix Joseph Saang, said that this was one of Gabungan Rakyat Sabah’s (GRS) main promises during last year’s snap state elections.
“Unfortunately, what happened was the opposite. There is still no clear solution taken to resolve the issue of illegal immigrants in Sabah,” he said in a statement on Tuesday.
Felix was referring to the recent arrest of eight Filipino security guards, who were caught using fake identity cards.
Other than the issuance of IMM13 documents, Felix pointed out that some illegal immigrants have been obtaining fake identity cards from several agents in Sabah.
“This matter is very worrying for the people of Sabah. Therefore, the people have the right to know what is actually going on and what are the efforts taken by the government to resolve this issue,” he said.
Recent news report had stated that eight Filipinos, aged between 23 and 58 years old, had been arrested during a recent operation at Stadium Merdeka in Kuala Lumpur.
Further investigation revealed that the eight individuals had obtained their fake identity cards from agents in Sabah. This enabled them to come to the Peninsula to work as security guards.
Felix, who is also UPKO Beluran chief stressed that stern actions must be taken on these irresponsible agents.
“We hope that the GRS’ promise to deport these ‘kumpit-kumpit’ or illegal immigrants would be fulfilled as soon as possible,” he said.