Call for mass registration of illegals
KOTA KINABALU: Parti Kerjasama Anak Negeri (Anak Negeri) has urged the Federal Home Ministry to carry out mass registration or regularization of undocumented illegal immigrants in Sabah for the purpose of establishing their actual numbers and obtaining their biometric identification in return for a 12-month or a maximum of 24 months amnesty or grace period to enable them to apply for passports and work permits.
Anak Negeri disagreed with the PSS and IMM13 proposals but welcome a mass registration exercise to ensure all illegal immigrants or undocumented foreigners including those claiming to be Filipino refugees with IMM13, kad burung burung and Sijil Banci are accounted for and properly documented, said its president Datuk Henrynus Amin.
Any amnesty or grace period for the purpose of facilitating illegal immigrants to apply and obtain their passports and work permits should be limited and must not exceed 24 months, he added.
Anak Negeri wishes to reiterate its stand that the long term solution to the huge presence of transient population in Sabah is not the proposed three-year temporary pass (PSS) renewable indefinitely, nor the IMM13 pass which would wrongly reclassify illegal immigrants as refugees.
The only way is for the Federal and State Governments to cooperate and to have the necessary political will to strictly implement existing immigration laws, he opined.
“Federal or State sympathy, if indeed true, for the Filipino refugees or illegal immigrants who are largely Muslims from Southern Philippines must not override the security concern of the people of Sabah as Malaysian citizens.
“Security for Sabah is a Federal obligation as agreed in the Malaysia Agreement 1963 and federal leaders need not be reminded that the sole reason for Sabah to join the formation of Malaysia was security concern, not economics,” he pointed out.
History will reveal that Sabah agreed to the formation of Malaysia due to fear of the Philippines claim on Sabah, as well as fear of the Indonesian confrontation, not to mention fear of communism spreading into Borneo, he claimed.
Sabah demanded the 20-Point safeguards and in particular sought state immigration powers in order to protect itself from possible influx of foreigners including from then Malayan states, said Henrynus.
“The failure of the Federal Government to stop the influx of undocumented foreigners now as high as 30 per cent of Sabah’s population is a serious breach of federal security obligation to the state.
“Federal inaction on undocumented transient population in Sabah exemplified by its failure to strictly implement the Immigration Act 1959/ 1963 must be corrected in order to appease the growing discontent of federal policies among Sabahans,” he said.
Anak Negeri, according to him, is fully aware of the need for foreign workers in Sabah especially in the construction, manufacturing, plantation and service industries.
For that matter, Anak Negeri urges all employers to proactively cooperate with the relevant authority to register their foreign workers under their respective employ who have no passport and work permits.
“Anak Negeri recommends simplifying the process and lowering the cost of applying for work permits in order to motivate employers to register their workers. Sabah employers are not interested or motivated to register their employees or workers because of bureacratic red tapes and the huge cost involved,” he added.
The Federal Home Ministry should therefore address the concern of employers on bureaucratic red tapes and possible corrupt practices that may account for the huge cost of applying for work permits.
Specific to the problems faced by Filipino foreign workers, the Malaysian Government should take proactive actions to engage the Philippines Government on the issue of lack of consulate office in Sabah, he stressed.
“Most Filipino foreign workers in Sabah wanted to renew or apply for passport but they were hampered by the absence of a Philippines consulate office in the state.
“The periodical short visit by Philippines embassy officials in Sabah is not enough to cater for the needs of hundreds of thousands of Filipino foreign workers and illegal immigrants who must renew or apply for passports,” he said.
He also opined that the lack of persistence or rather inaction by the Malaysian Government on the issue of Philippines consulate office in Sabah is a major challenge to Malaysia’s sovereign rights and ability to deal with undocumented Filipino foreign workers in Sabah.
The Malaysian Government, he stressed, must find creative ways through diplomatic means to convince the Philippines Government to build their consulate office in Sabah or at least near Sabah to provide and facilitate consular services to Filipino citizens working in Sabah.
“After the expiry of 24 months amnesty period, all undocumented illegal immigrants should have registered and fully documented themselves and their dependents. Employers who refused or failed to assist their undocumented workers to obtain valid passports and work permits should be penalized.
“Illegal immigrants regardlesss of their geographical origins who failed to register themselves and remain undocumented without a valid passport and work permit upon expiry of the 24-month grace period should be arrested and deported or sent back to their country of origin,” said Henrynus.
On the issue of undocumented transient population, the Federal Home Minister must tackle the bull by the horns, he said adding that the Federal Home Ministry must take proactive, tangible and comprehensive measures to resolve the problem of undocumented transient population in Sabah.