Hundreds from around Sabah gather to protest against PSS

KIMANIS POLLS | More than 500 people gathered today to protest against the implementation of the Sabah Temporary Pass (PSS) in Pekan Membakut, which falls under the Kimanis parliamentary constituency, three days before the Jan 18 vote.

The participants mainly came from Kota Kinabalu, Putatan, Beaufort and some were local residents, all clad in black T-shirts carrying the words "Say No to PSS" and "Tolak PSS"

They angrily chanted "tolak" and "bantah PSS" slogans during the protest, which started at 9.50am.

The group sang the state anthem following speeches by local activists and politicians. They then signed a petition to express their objection to the PSS.

Beaufort district police chief Azmir B Abdul Razak interrupted the protest at about 11.15am and asked the organiser to stop immediately.

Explaining to the media later, Azmir said part of the condition set by the police for the event was that the protest must end at 11am. 

The PSS is a new document that the Immigration Department will issue to migrants, replacing three existing documents, namely IMM13, Burung-burung cards and census certificates.

The Home Affairs Ministry has issued a statement making it clear that the PSS will not lead to migrants or any other foreigners attaining citizenship, but it has been taken up by BN as an issue with which to challenge the state government. 

Earlier, Sabah People’s Education Improvement Organisation (Pipa) committee member Benjamin Ondoi said the PSS policy may result in the population of Sabah increasing by up to one million.

He urged the people to reject the PSS.

Rally organiser Solidariti Rakyat Sabah (Sorak) chairperson Jamain Sarudin expressed concern that the local people may one day end up as refugees in their own state.

Pipa and Sorak are the two NGOs that organised the rally.

Sabah MCA Wanita head Pamela Yong urged the voters in Kimanis to reject Warisan candidate Karim Bujang in the by-election.

Yong said Warisan would be more confident in implementing PSS if it wins the Kimanis parliamentary seat.

"They (the non-citizens) should be sent home and come back using legal travel documents," she said.

Former Kimanis MP Anifah Aman was the key speaker at the protest, dubbed Himpunan Solidariti Rakyat Bantah PSS.

Two other key speakers were Sabah opposition leader and Parti Soladirati Tanah Airku president Jeffrey Kitingan, and Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) president Yong Teck Lee and Parti Bersatu Sabah information chief and Kinulu state assemblyperson Johniston Bangkuai.

Around 50 police officers in uniform and plain clothes, as well as riot police, were on the ground.

In his speech, Anifah said that a vote for Karim is a vote for the betrayal of our offsprings and their future.

"Gradually, the migrants will become citizens and we, the orang asal (natives) of Sabah, will become like migrants," he said.

Anifah also criticised the "ambitious" Sabah Chief Minister Shafie Apdal who he thinks wants to become a sultan or the president of a republic. 

He said Shafie formed the state government after the 2018 general election in an undemocratic way.

Meanwhile, Jeffrey said the Sabahans have no way of knowing the identity and background of the PSS recipients.

"We are going to give the PSS to 600,000 migrants and we don't know who they are. Are they terrorists, are they a part of the Islamic State or Abu Sayyaf?

"This is so dangerous to us. It will pose a threat to our security, society and economy in the future," he said.

"We will end up becoming refugees ourselves," he said.

Azmir told the media that the police will probe the content of the protest today to determine if the organisers broke any of the conditions set by the police.

"We are probing (the protest), we will look at the content first. I will inform later. But, so far so good," he said.

He said a total of 25 police personnel set up a roadblock along the main road to check cars that headed for the protest due to information received by the police of possible sabotage by migrants who might have been carrying weapons.

The roadblock was not meant to stop the people from participating in the protest, he said, but to ensure they were genuine protesters.

A wooden parang toy was confiscated from a car with the owner claiming the toy was meant to be used in a performance, he added.

The Kimanis by-election was called after the Election Court voided the Kimanis election results on grounds that the Election Commission (EC) failed to comply with election procedures.

Anifah had won Kimanis with a razor-thin 156-vote majority in the last general election.

Umno is represented by Mohamad Alamin, who is contesting under BN's banner.

Kimanis is an agricultural district with 29,644 registered voters, where 63.16 percent are Muslim bumiputera, 30.67 percent non-Muslim bumiputera, 3.59 percent Chinese and 2.58 percent others. - Mkini