Be transparent on illegals issue

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) president, Datuk Yong Teck Lee, has called on the government to be transparent regarding the issue of illegal immigrants.

Yong said, the unconvincing statements from the government over the future of illegal immigrants was creating public concern.

According to him, contradicting statements on the issuance of IMM13 for illegals, the sight of illegals gatecrashing a government office that issues IMM13, huge crowds of illegals gathering at offices of MPs of a certain ruling party and the mysterious spate of fires at illegal squatter colonies appear to be more than a coincidence.

“In spite of a thousand houses burnt and tens of thousands of people displaced, there were no reports of human injuries or deaths.

“From media photos, it could be seen that mattresses, furniture items, fridges, TV sets were lined up along the road outside the burning houses.

“And, strangely, a bus marked ‘Jabatan Pendaftaran Negara (JPN), Kementerian Dalam Negeri’ was at the site,” Yong claimed.

He said the people had asked what service was the JPN bus providing to the fire victims but nobody in the government had bothered to answer.

“The government must show that it is not engaged in Project IC 2.0,” he remarked at the SAPP congress here yesterday.

Yong said, the issue of illegal immigration was no longer just a matter of demography and politics, nor was it simply a matter of crime or a strain on our health services anymore.

He cited that recent news report showed that two Abu Sayyaf suspected terrorists were sentenced to five months for immigration offences.

“One had been in Sabah for 38 years. The other had been in Sabah for 13 years. They were arrested in Tenom, in the interior of Sabah,” Yong noted.

He said, illegal immigration and terrorism were no longer confined to the Eastern Sabah Security Zone (ESSZone) or the coastal areas of Sabah.

“Rightly so, repeatedly, the National Security Council has warned that the terrorism threat to Sabah remains high. SAPP demands that the government puts in more resources, more manpower, and more political will to make Sabah a secure place for Malaysians, as promised to Sabah during the formation of Malaysia,” Yong reiterated.