‘Sabah has immigration powers’

The state BN government can act on its own to deal with immigration issue, says former PKR vice-president Jeffrey Kitingan.

KOTA KINABALU: Borneo rights activist Jeffrey Kitingan believes that Sabah Barisan Nasional (BN) partner, Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS), is barking up the wrong tree by asking the federal government to grant immigration powers to the state.

He said the state already has immigration powers and all it needed to do was to enforce them to solve the problem of illegal immigrants.

Jeffrey, who is United Borneo Front (UBF) chairman, is also the younger brother of Deputy Chief Minister and PBS president, Joseph Pairin Kitingan.

Jeffrey said he did not understand why PBS felt the state BN government needed federal government backing on the issue.

He said that while he fully agreed with PBS secretary-general Henrynus Amin’s statement that the decades-long issue must be resolved, he was puzzled as to why the party felt that the state BN government had no powers to deal with the matter.

“This is because the state already has the full, unquestionable power to arrest illegals and deport them without referring to the federal government.

“The state’s power of immigration was never surrendered to the federal government. All the state government needs to do is to assert its power and solve our immigration problems.

“We still have the power to deny entry to non-Sabahans the same way Lim Kit Siang (the DAP leader at the time) was denied entry and was forced to re-board the plane during the Berjaya rule,” Jeffrey said.

He pointed out that the Immigration Department should report to Chief Minister Musa Aman.

“The chief minister can direct the Sabah Commissioner of Police to act in the same way the district officer can direct the district police chief to act,” he said.

“Let’s not forget that as chief minister, Musa is also the chairman of the State Security Committee, a unit under the state’s internal affairs unit.

“This committee is the one tasked with monitoring, co-ordinating and acting on security matters in Sabah,” Jeffrey added.

Initiate action

According to Jeffrey, all the state needed to do now was to initiate action to solve the state’s security problem without depending on the federal government to give the go-ahead.

“If the state BN is really serious about retaining Sabah as its fixed deposit, it would act on this matter for its own good as well.

“It cannot keep shying away from carrying out its duties and responsibilities and think it needs KL’s approval all the time,” he said.

He suggested that as BN component parties, PBS and Upko should engage with their main partner, Umno, in the state government to solve the problem.

“PBS and Upko should broach this matter to the state cabinet and deal with the federal government as soon as possible,” Jeffrey said.

He, however, questioned the sincerity of the state government in wanting to handle the issue that could cause many leaders to get their fingers burnt if they decided to go too deeply into it.

“I wonder if the (state security) committee has been meeting to discuss security and immigration matters.”

Last week, former Senator Dr Chong Eng Leong said the statement by PBS showed that the party was in a dilemma over its role in the BN coalition government.

PBS said last week that it was not satisfied with government action on illegal immigrants in the state and saw “the day-to-day police operations, roadblocks, IC checks or immigration raids as mere window-dressing”.