Sabahans reeling from ‘Projek IC’ as foreigners reap benefits

The recent kidnapping and shooting of policemen on Pulau Mabul is linked to Filipinos who are able to slip in and out of Sabah because many have illegal MyKad. – Picture courtesy of Jidin Giling, July 23, 2014.

In Kampung Likas, some 10 minutes from Kota Kinabalu, Zaidi Atoh and other villagers say they feel like “foreigners in their own land”.

Residents of this old mostly Muslim community say they fear for the safety of their children as foreigners had turned their village into a smuggling and drug-dealing hub.

In the Kampung Air shopping district in central Kota Kinabalu, local taxi drivers talk of how they are being increasingly squeezed out of lucrative routes and markets by Indonesian and Filipino drivers.

Some two hours away in Keningau, a video has surfaced showing bands of foreigners and locals clashing over what appear to be market stall lots.

Local activists say these incidents are the blowback from “Projek IC” – where identity cards were given out dubiously to foreigners – that is turning Sabah into a powder keg.

In fact, Sabah folk believe that militants in the Lahad Datu invasion last year were able to sneak in because many of them had Malaysian identity cards.

What began as an election tactic has altered the demographics of Sabah to the point where foreigners now make up more than 38% of the population.

Foreigners with MyKad are competing with locals for business permits and licences. And locals feel they are increasingly losing out as foreigners are willing to make “under-table deals” with corrupt officials.

Local activist Jalumin Bayogoh said if not taken seriously, the tension could boil over into more serious violence.

Real ICs, fake citizens

Proof that an IC scheme existed in the 1980s and 1990s emerged in the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Sabah’s illegal immigrants in January 2013.

Testimonies throughout the inquiry suggested that the scheme was run by politicians and civil servants during the Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad's administration.

Identity cards were given to migrants, mostly Filipinos and Indonesians, without them having to go through the naturalisation process to become citizens.

In his testimony, Dr Mahathir admitted citizenship was given to Filipino migrants in Sabah but insisted that it was all done legally.

A State Reform Party (STAR) book called “Agenda Borneo” alleges that about 300,000 illegal migrants received ICs.

“Now, there are probably a million foreigners who gained Malaysian citizenship through the back door,” wrote Nestor Joannes.

He was quoting a former Sandakan district officer, Asainar M.P. Ebrahim @ Hassnar, who claimed to have been involved in “Projek IC”.

Nestor wrote that the scheme led to a 302% rise in Sabah’s population between the 1970s and 2000. In comparison, Sarawak, which had more people in the 1970s than Sabah, only saw a 106% rise in its population.

He said foreigners were given ICs so that they could vote.

“To secure Umno’s grip on Sabah, they used foreigners who had been given ICs by the federal government. (These foreigners) then became Umno supporters.”

Taking over jobs and neighbourhoods

Chong, a taxi driver for the 12 years, has seen how the hired car industry in Kota Kinabalu has been steadily taken over by Indonesian migrants.

“Now all the airport cabs are driven and run by Bugis. So are many of the prime waiting spots at hotels, malls and shopping districts,” said Chong, who declined to reveal his full name.

Unlike local Bumiputera or Chinese Malaysian taxi drivers, the Indonesian drivers can barely speak Bahasa Malaysia.

Yet they have permits and their cars bear their names, said Chong and two other drivers, Ahmad and Sapri, when met.

Ahmad said in order to get a taxi permit one had to have a MyKad, a driving licence and at least RM15,000.

But migrants, they said, were willing to make underhanded deals in order to secure permits. Locals are more reluctant to bribe for a licence.

Beyond just worrying about losing businesses and jobs, there is a feeling among Sabah folk that the migrant takeover is done with impunity.

Zaidi, who is Kampung Likas security and development chief, said locals were uncomfortable with how migrants were setting up smuggling bases along a river running through the village.

He said they smuggled goods, such as cooking oil, cigarettes and drugs from and into Sabah.

“They are aggressive and flout the law. We don’t dare to do these things because if the police come for us, where are we going to run? These illegals will just get on a boat and flee back home.”

Village have also seen turf wars being fought by parang- and sword-wielding members of rival migrant gangs. However, there have not been reports of locals caught up in these fights.

“But we live in fear every day. My friends say it’s like we are the foreigners now, even though this is our country.”

A Malaysian problem

Their worries should not be misconstrued as xenophobia towards foreigners, in the way Malay Muslims were paranoid about local women were being wooed by Bangladeshis and Pakistanis.

Neither is the anxiety directed at all foreigners. Local activists believe that the 64,000 Filipinos granted refugee status in the 1970s should be given a path to citizenship.

Jalumin, of the Borneo Heritage Trust, said that these refugees should be given residency passes that allow them to seek jobs and send their children to school.

“But it won’t give them the right to vote. When their kids go to school, we can teach them and naturalise them to become Malaysian citizens who will be loyal to Malaysia.”

That sense of belonging to Malaysia was what needed to be re-emphasised in dealing with the problem, said a local Sabah Barisan Nasional leader.

Datuk Jahid Jahim said that what really disturbed Sabahans was the fact that some of the foreigners in their midst were loyal to forces or entities outside Malaysia.

Worse, they are prepared to kill Malaysians at the behest of these outsiders.

The invasion of Lahad Datu by gunmen loyal to the Sulu Sultanate was the clearest example.

“The economic and social problems are there. But these are downstream problems. The main problem is security.

“There are people in Sabah we worry about and people coming into Sabah. We do not know who is friend and who is enemy,” said Jahid, who is Parti Bersatu Sabah information chief.

The problem was not confined to Sabah, Jahid said.

In October last year, a security guard shot dead an Ambank officer in a robbery at the bank’s Subang Jaya branch.

Initial investigations revealed that he was a Sabahan with a fake IC. When he was charged in court in last February, La Ode Ardi Rasila was identified as an Indonesian.

Jahim said, for a start, the government had to re-register everyone in Sabah and issue them with new MyKad. This would help separate genuine Malaysians from migrants.

“We need to tackle this like we tackled the Communist insurgency,” he said, referring to tactics used throughout the 1940s and 1950s to flush out the Communists embedded in society.

“Essentially, this is a Malaysian problem. Not just a Sabah problem. If we deal with the security aspect, then the business and social problems will also be resolved.”

- TMI