PSS recommended by RCI under BN government, says Shafie

KIMANIS: The implementation of the Sabah Temporary Pass (PSS) by the state government is a part of the recommendations from the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on illegal immigrants to solve the problem of dumping of foreigners in Sabah.

Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal said the RCI on illegal immigrants in Sabah was established during the Barisan Nasional (BN) government and it had made several recommendations in seeking solutions to the problems and it was passed in the Parliament at that time.

As such, Mohd Shafie, who is also Parti Warisan Sabah (Warisan) president, said the allegations and criticisms of certain parties that supporting the Warisan was akin to supporting the PSS were baseless.

“Some people say that supporting Warisan is akin to supporting PSS.

“I want to tell you that I will bring (proof), the documents (RCI recommendations) that were passed in the Parliament and former Sabah deputy chief minister Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan chaired its technical committee then.

“What are the RCI recommendations? (One of the recommendations) is that we should combine (documents issued to foreigners).

“That is one of their recommendations and we are going to implement it because it is from the RCI.

“I am not lying,” he said when campaigning for the Kimanis parliamentary by-election in

Sinuka near here Wednesday night.

In September last year, the Foreigners Management Committee in Sabah has agreed to issue PSS starting June 1 this year.

Home Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, when announcing the decision, said the introduction of PSS was to replace three other documents issued to foreign nationals residing in Sabah, namely, the IMM13 passes, census certificate and Kad Burung-Burung.

The PSS would ensure more effective enforcement with the availability of centralised and standardised data of immigrants as well as to facilitate monitoring of foreigners’ movements by the authorities, said Muhyiddin. — Bernama