Dissolving RCI not an issue: Pairin
Published on: Friday, January 08, 2016
Kota Kinabalu: Dissolving the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) Technical Committee on Illegal Immigrants in Sabah is not an issue as the more pressing problem is how to come up with the most effective solutions to the problem of illegal immigrants in the State.Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan (pic), who is also the Chairman of the RCI Technical Committee, said the committee had been established but admitted there have been a lot of problems with regards to the committee's slow action."What problems? It is up to you to speculate on that. Maybe something is blocking it, maybe it is my own weaknesses.
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"But no matter what, when it comes to the technical committee, comments from the public or political leaders are inevitable, whether they are good, bad or neutral comments and we accept them all," he said.Nevertheless, Pairin said since he had been entrusted to chair the committee, he would not be deterred and will continue to carry out the tasks at hand."If someone said the committee should be dissolved, that is not within my power. I was assigned to compile and forward suggestions from all parties, including the opposition. Just wait, we will complete our work," he promised.Of course, he said, people are free to criticise him but, at the same time, the same people should be able to contribute ideas and work together by sending their suggestions to the committee to reach the common objective which is to solve the problem.
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"Remember that the problem of illegal immigrants is a very complex problem for a lot of reasons. One of the main causes as to why the problem continues to plague us is because the locals keep harbouring them and refuse to cooperate with the authority."They do not want to lodge reports against those who have overstayed in the State because they want to use these people for their own benefits," he said.
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Pairin had come under fire in the past few days after he yet again told the media that the report of the committee will only be ready by this year.Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) Deputy President Edward Dagul said it is hard for Sabahans to accept that the report takes more than a year to complete and Pairin, as a former Chief Minister, should have all the facts and figures at his fingertips or at least within his committee members' reach because the problem of illegal immigrants in Sabah had been there for decades.Pairin and his committee had repeatedly missed the deadline, set by themselves, to submit the report to the main committee. Promising to submit the report on July last year, it was later deferred to December. Both deadlines came and went and the committee continued to give various reasons as to why the report remained incomplete.On both occasions, Pairin was quoted to have said that the delay was due to the committee's commitment not to leave out any good ideas.The committee was set up to compile feedback and to provide proposals and suggestions on how to resolve the illegal immigrant problem following recommendations made in the main RCI Report released in December 2014. The long-awaited report, however, failed to recommend solutions to the problem and merely recommended the setting up of two committees, namely the technical committee and permanent committee to oversee the problem.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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