PSS could have solved illegals dilemma — MP
Misinformation about the PSS mechanism was so effective as a fearmongering tactic targeted at the KDM society.
Chan Foong Hin
KOTA KINABALU: The now defunct Sabah Temporary Pass (PSS) could have solved the state’s illegal immigrants dilemma, said DAP Sabah secretary Chan Foong Hin.
Chan said that both Umno and Star Sabah were hypocrites for using the PSS issue as a fear-mongering tactic to scare Sabahans, especially the KadazanDusun Murut (KDM) community.
“Misinformation about the PSS mechanism was so effective as a fear-mongering tactic targeted at the KDM society.
“Jeffrey Kitingan (Star Sabah president) back then claimed that there would be a ‘reverse takeover’ by illegal immigrants.
“However, the PSS is merely a mechanism with biometric features to replace existing passes namely, IMM13, Sijil Banci and Kad Burung-Burung. In return for their data, they are given some basic recognition as a human being, but not citizenship, which is subject to further determination,” he said in a statement on Friday.
The Kota Kinabalu MP made the comment in light of Deputy Chief Minister cum Umno Sabah chief Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin’s recent announcement regarding the formation of a State Level Technical Commi ee, tasked to ‘find solutions’ on the issue of illegal immigrants in Sabah.
Although he agreed with Bung’s idea, Chan was of the opinion that the idea was not something new.
“In fact, there has been a foreigners’ management central commi ee during Barisan Nasional’s rule of Sabah. This commi ee was chaired by the former state secretary, and had on 31 July 2015 agreed to the Sabah Residential Pass, a recommendation made by the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI).
The Sabah Residential Pass was subsequently agreed to at a further meeting on Feb 15, 2016, jointly chaired by the then “Home Ministry secretary-general and the Sabah state secretary.
“The proposal was tabled to the Sabah government’s foreigner management commi ee on May 16 the same year. This meeting was chaired by former deputy prime minister and home minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and former Sabah chief minister, Tan Sri Musa Aman,” he explained.
He said that the then Pakatan Harapan-Warisan government then proposed the PSS idea, which was twisted by Umno and Star Sabah.
Chan went on to say that current Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who was the then Home Minister and who had introduced the PSS, had himself said in January 2020 that the PSS was not a new idea but in fact a continuation of the Sabah Residential Pass proposed by Barisan Nasional and the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) to handle the immigrant issue in Sabah.
“In fact, Umno and Star were hypocrites to the core when both of the parties decided to support Muhyiddin, the father of PSS, as the Prime Minister a er the Sheraton Move,” Chan stressed.
He opined that if it were not for Umno and Star’s ‘demonising’ of such efforts, the PSS would have helped solve the very basic problem of taking record and data of illegal immigrants and make it easier for the government and authorities to control and manage this population.
He said it would be useful for there to be a database for such illegal immigrants stuck in Sabah.
“They can perhaps be given a chance to return to work in such ‘dirty, difficult and dangerous’ (3D) sectors, provided they are registered in a database and are traceable, while the government slowly reopens the economy,” added Chan.
He further suggested that the current low vaccine registration in Sabah could be caused by the reluctant registration by illegal foreign workers.
“Is it because they had not come out for fear of being arrested and deported? If so, how to achieve herd immunity in Sabah?” asked Chan.