Kota Kinabalu: Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Tan Sri Joseph Kurup was on Wednesday told to keep quiet and work with the government instead on solving the problem of illegal immigrants in Sabah.The advice came from Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan who said instead of airing his grouses in the media, Kurup, being part of the government, should give his thoughts on the problem.
"He should provide some inputs because we are in this together," he said, adding sarcastically, "but that's fine, if he wants to do that, let him join the opposition who criticise."
"As far as I'm concerned I'm going through my work and I have said that I will produce the report as soon as possible and I'm working on that," he said after the Public Works Department (PWD) Excellence Award Ceremony at Dewan JKR, Sembulan, here, Wednesday.
Kurup has been among the most vocal on the apparent lack of follow-up action on the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) report on illegal immigrants, firing his latest salvo last Friday, saying the people of Sabah are not happy with the progress.
"We must be transparent over this monstrous issue that has bedevilled the people of Sabah for decades.
"As far as I know, there have been no consultations between the stakeholders such as NGOs or other political parties. To me, this is a national issue in which even the opposition should be included," he said.
Kurup was among several local leaders who pressed the State and Federal governments to explain the apparent inaction despite the release of the RCI report a year ago.
Such claims were immediately dismissed by Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman who described these suggestions by certain quarters as being irresponsible and misleading the people.
Pairin, who heads the RCI technical working committee, concurred, saying the fact is the government is seriously looking at how to tackle all these related problems.
"Let's not forget that the government is taking steps, at the same time sending people off, creating more detention camps because we don't have enough detention camps.
"This is part of what we have discussed which also includes increasing the assets of the Eastern Sabah Security Command (Esscom). These are all the steps taken in resolving issues which are related to illegal immigrants and refugees," he said, adding that they have submitted a preliminary report, the contents of which are inclusive of certain proposals that have been taken note of.
"As you can see in the Prime Minister's statement, certain objectives have already been executed and taken into action. Everything is ongoing. The government is not stopping to wait for the actual report to come in."
He said the report will be made public, adding that he hoped their recommendations will be adopted as it would include inputs from political parties, the opposition and those who are concerned.
"Whatever suggestions coming in directly or indirectly through the newspaper, communication or expectations are being noted by the government," he said, explaining that there are a lot of steps to be taken in completing the job involving the issue of illegal immigrants and its implications.
Pairin also said the government should not only tackle the issue involving illegal immigrants but cooperate with other governments to resolve the civil war in Southern Philippines.
"In the local context of the Asian region, the establishment of the family of Asean is one step. Other steps must be inclusive of how to resolve the civil war in the Southern Philippines so that there will be less people coming out as refugees or illegal immigrants.
"We did not sign the refugee convention so we are not directly involved with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which I think we must because we are part of the whole world machinery," he said.
Earlier, the event saw a total of 55 people receiving the Excellence Service Award 2014 and another 49 receive the Best Employee of the Year 2015.
"I would like to congratulate all recipients and I hope it will act as a motivation to contribute continuously to the government service, particularly the department," he said, advising all staff to stay away from corruption and practise integrity instead.
"I also urge all staff throughout the department and the whole Ministry to ensure that all programmes will be executed efficiently and smoothly in the upcoming months and years so that our Ministry can contribute towards the Vision 2020 objectives," he said.
According to Pairin, the State government in the State's Budget 2016 has allocated RM91.4 million to the Public Works Department to implement the State's infrastructure programmes.
"All new building projects, road repairs, slopes management, sewerage, the construction and repair of bridges must be continued as usual, giving priority to the needs of the people in urban as well as rural areas," he said.
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