PKR CONCERN ABOUT SABAHANS SECURITY

DR ROLAND Chia, PKR Sabah Secretary cum National Supreme Council member, expressed concern with regards to the security of the state of Sabah. He was commenting on the recent admission by the Federal Deputy Home Minister that 3 out of the 4 prisons in Sabah are full.

This statement that was released in Dewan Negara on the 3 Dec 2012 speaks volumes of the security levels of the state of Sabah. Currently there are 4 prisons in Sabah –i.e. Kota Kinabalu, Sandakan, Tawau & Keningau , the prisons in Kota Kinabalu, Tawau & Sandakan are full with an average 77% of prisoners are convicts whilst the remaining are prisoners on remand.

To make matters worst, the Population and Housing Census Report for 2010 of the Economic Planning Unit announced that more than a quarter of the Sabah population i.e about 27 per cent of Sabah's population are foreigners," Dr Roland Chia also alleged that the 899,799 foreign population in Sabah was not the actual total as there are many illegal immigrants who were not included in the census.

The alarming crime rate and the overwhelming population of illegal immigrants has also been admitted by a BN Sabah State Minister back in August 2011 and had called Filipino Muslims in the state “especially troublesome” due to “vagrancy and violence,” according to a leaked United States diplomatic cable.

The State Minister concern as mentioned in the leaked cable (wikileaks) complained that Sabah was ‘flooded with foreigners.’ He singled out Filipino Muslims from Mindanao as ‘especially troublesome.’

He said they are not as devout as us.” “He even further elaborated that the state’s Filipinos were using our social services and not integrating into society, and that ‘vagrancy and violence’ were rampant within Sabah’s Filipino community,”

The wire also said that the Sabah State Minister admitted that Sabah’s maritime and land borders were “very porous” and expressed concern that Sabah’s foreign residents were starting to become politically active. The unhappiness of Sabah natives over the flood of foreigners into the state was also touched on by the cable. An alleged that this is part of the Project M.

Dr Roland Chia urged both the state and federal government to beef up security both domestically and also the waters surrounding the State of Sabah rather than being too preoccupied in implementing the controversial national AES – Automated Enforcement System. It is clearly that the government of the day has got their priorities wrong. (PKR Media)