Water villages pose security challenge
Published on: Monday, November 23, 2015
Kota Kinabalu: The migrant social network is the pull factor for the increase in foreigners getting citizenship in Sabah, said Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) International Relations Programme senior lecturer Wan Shawaluddin Wan Hassan. "Migrant networks are significant in encouraging migration. Social networking will help newcomers by providing information regarding the new surroundings, for example what to do and what not to do, lodging, borrowing cash and contact."In some cases, these social networks can also facilitate the process of getting citizenship," he said, adding that almost everyone in Semporna, Tawau and Sandakan have relatives back in the Southern Philippines.ADVERTISEMENT The population of Sabah in 1970 was 651,304, however, the number increased to a staggering 3.1 million or 479 per cent by the year 2010. According to the Population and Housing Census of Malaysia 2010, foreigners, he said, made up 28 per cent of the population. "A study done by Azizah Kassim in 2009 also revealed that there are around 200, 000 to one million undocumented migrants in Sabah," he said during the 1st Sulu Sulawesi Sea (SSS) Conference 2015 held at UMS. The influx of illegal immigrants into the State has resulted in illegal settlements which he said were a big challenge faced by Eastern Sabah Security Command (Esscom).ADVERTISEMENT "Despite the demolition of Kg BDC, , new water villages have emerged, for example, in Lahad Datu (Kg Puyot, Bakau), Semporna (Kg Bangau-Bangau, Simunul) and Tawau (Kg Icebox, Kg Hidayat)," he said, adding that the increase in water villagers would lead to criminal activities such as human trafficking and smuggling of drugs and weapons. "These people also practise illegal fishing methods such as fish bombing which destroys the reef, impacting on our nature tourism," he said.
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The push factor of the inflow of Filipino immigrants is due to the unstable political situation in their country.The civil war in the Southern Philippines (Sulu and Tawi-Tawi) has driven the southern Muslims to Sabah, he said. Ironically, this is not the case in Celebes, Indonesia. Politics in Indonesia is stable. "The economy under Suharto and the current leader is doing okay. So what's the reason then?" "It's not that there in Celebes there's not much work, because they are farmers," he said.Based on interviews with Tenaga Kerja Indonesia (TKI), Bugis, when asked the reason for coming to Sabah responded 'ingin mencari kelebihang …' (to get more income). 'Bukannya tak boleh makang, tapi nda cukup untuk simpang …' (it's not because they could not afford to eat but the fact that it's not enough for savings).Foreign workers have been made scapegoats by locals who claim their presence in Sabah resulted in most locals being unemployed. "I think this is wrong because locals are not interested in these sort of jobs. Locals are more inclined to work at offices even if their salary is low as jobs in the construction, plantation or services sector are related to 3Ds (danger, difficulty and dirty)," he said. Besides the porous border of the three countries – Indonesia, Philippines and Malaysia (Sabah), barter trade is also one of the main reason for the inflow of illegal immigrants into Sabah. "Sometimes, boats used for barter trade are also used by illegal immigrants. If such situations are unchecked, it will encourage others to follow suit and use barter trade as a channel for illegal entry into Malaysia," said UMS International Relations Programme senior lecturer Ramli Dollah.However, he said, the barter trade activity has been indirectly providing jobs to the local population."In Sandakan for example, 60 per cent of the workers are Malaysian whereas in Tawau, study has shown that barter trade activities have encouraged more women to be involved in small business," he said, adding that it could help improve their socio-economic status. Often, the state to state relations between these three countries have negative representations but not in terms of people to people relations."The people to people relations are mostly harmonious due to the interdependence formed between them."This can be seen during the Ambalat Crisis in 2005 whereby the situation in the borders is said to be peaceful and not chaotic at all," he explained. Besides, the various taxes and duties imposed in the barter trade activity has generated a considerable amount of income to the government. "Taxes and duties collected between 2000-2005 amounted to more than RM6 million," he said, adding that during the economic crisis in 1997, barter trade has played a major role in the recovery of Malaysia. "In the second quarter of 1998, the value of barter trade reached RM1 billion," he said, quoting the Minister of Industrial Development Datuk Raymond Tan saying that the barter trade activity had greatly aided the State during the economic crisis. Ramli said in 2013, the value of barter trade with Indonesia has reached more than RM126 million whereas with Philippines the value has reached up to RM7.8 million (Jan to Sept 2013). In addition, he said, thanks to barter trade activity, there have been physical developments in underdeveloped areas by government and private agencies. Previously, Pulau Sebatik has been developed by private initiative, namely North Borneo Timber (NBT) with the potential for the country to catch up with the development in other regions. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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"The Finance Ministry Parliamentary Secretary while proposing the tax-free status for Sebatik had stated that 'this will help to boost the revenue of the government … it will certainly reap enormous commercial benefits to the country through trade activities'," said Ramli. The people can also get hold of goods that are not locally produced as well as cheaper consumer goods especially marine products. However, barter trade, he explained, not only encouraged the entry of illegal immigrants but also other illegal activities such as smuggling of subsidised goods and tax evasion.