Govt urged to prioritize sovereignty, own citizens first

KUALA LUMPUR: Senior Minister for the Security Cluster, Datuk Seri Sabri Ismail, should be commended for stating the obvious in defending the actions of the government in arresting illegal immigrants and foreigners without documentation on May Day.

Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku (STAR) Sabah deputy president Jalumin Bayogoh said the actions taken were to protect the country and Malaysians from illegals.

He said after the hue and cry raised by concerned citizens and netizens from all walks of life, race and religion against the threats and demands of the Rohingya illegals, it was a welcome move to swoop and detain them.

"To Sabahans especially, the arrests and detention of the illegals and its justification by the Senior Minister was more than well received.

"But at the same time, they questioned why no such action was taken in Sabah and the silence of the Sabah government which is perceived by genuine

Sabahans to be protecting and prioritizing illegals and foreigners without documents," he said.

He said in a press statement yesterday, in support of the actions taken by the security forces in screening and rounding up the undocumented foreigners and illegal immigrants.

Jalumin pointed out the comparison was even highlighted in the distribution of food baskets by the Sabah government to the foreigners in their places and that given to genuine Sabahans which were viralled with videos and photographs.

The Warisan government and their leaders were widely criticized with stories of local natives in the interior Sabah said to receive only three pots of rice compared to 5kg and 10kg bags of rice and bags full of other goodies for the foreigners as seen in videos and photographs of boats ferrying them to the islands.

"It needs to be highlighted that the arrests of the illegals had come on the heels of the earlier actions by the security and maritime forces that had prevented boat-loads of Rohingya people from landing in Langkawi, Kedah, and the success in preventing illegal immigrants from being brought in by irresponsible parties in the east coast of Sabah.

"The actions of the present Federal Government appear to have departed from the actions of the previous two administrations which were marked by wanton issuance of dubious ICs and MyKads to illegal immigrants especially in Sabah and the buying of ICs by foreigners, notably in Penang.

"In addition, little action was taken against most of the culprits or the foreigners holding dubious ICs which were enrolled into the electoral rolls," he said.

Jalumin added that there was also no concerted effort to investigate deeper into the people and syndicates behind the issuance of the illegal ICs and to weed out these illegal IC-holders. Almost all of them remain as voters in the Election Commission's electoral rolls.