Party welcomes Musa's word on BN woes

Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) has welcomed an assurance by Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman that he will tackle the grievances raised by fellow Barisan Nasional component parties.

Party secretary-general Henrynus Amin said the assurance was timely as Sabah BN must consolidate as a team under the 1Malaysia declaration of "people first and performance now" to win the people's confidence.

Responding to the call by Musa for BN component parties to close ranks, he said PBS would promote and uphold the spirit of friendship and solidarity within the BN family.

Henrynus expressed his gratitude for the presence of many Sabah Umno and other Kundasang BN divisional leaders during the opening of the Kundasang PBS divisional annual general meeting.

He said their presence showed that BN remained strong and relevant with committed supporters under the present leadership of Musa.

PBS, he said, also welcomed the changing attitude of federal leaders on the presence of illegal immigrants in Sabah and the bid to ensure local workers are given incentives and preference in the labour market.

"Personally, I must support and congratulate Home Minister Hishamudin Hussein for his decision to adopt and implement the recommendations of the special laboratory on foreign workers," he said.

He also agreed that unskilled migrant workers should not bring their spouses or family with them as "unskilled cheap foreign workers with families tend to produce more children, who become stateless when their country of origin fails to recognise them."

Serious consequences

The Malaysian government could not simply repatriate children born to foreigners who would become stateless when abandoned by their parents, he said in countering arguments that the government should first deport illegal immigrants.

Henrynus also said that foreigners should not be allowed to stay in Sabah for more than five years as the law currently gives them the right to apply for permanent stay after more than five years of continuous residence.

The fact that the government overlooked this matter, he said, had allowed hundreds of thousands of foreigners from neighbouring countries to come, work and stay in Sabah indefinitely.

"These foreigners, some of whom have obtained Malaysian identity cards or even formed families with local people, have since developed emotional ties to Sabah and are reluctant to leave.

"I am not xenophobic or anti-foreigner. To me these foreign workers are decent human beings like you and me, who came here to work and earn a living to raise families.

"I also sympathise with the legitimate concerns of the business community on the need for cheap labour. But the people of Sabah must understand the serious consequences to the security and future wellbeing of the people of Sabah if the political demography of the state, which has changed beyond recognition since the formation of Malaysia, is ignored," he said.

He said the greed of unscrupulous and irresponsible employers is largely responsible for the huge presence of illegal immigrants in Sabah.

He said while PBS recognised the efforts of the state and federal authorities to curb the influx of migrant workers into Sabah, the people expected more.

"The over dependence on cheap foreign labour must stop as the changing political demography of the state now threatened the very foundation of the formation of Malaysia.

"The failure of the federal government to stop the influx of foreigners into Sabah is a very serious matter as it was a solemn promise by the then federal leaders and a constitutional guarantee to the people of Sabah as agreed under the Malaysia agreement 1963," he said.

He warned that the younger generation was now asking and assigning blame which can degenerate into far reaching consequences to the future shape of Sabah politics.

courtesy of FMT