'Govt must be clear with policy on stateless kids'
Published on: Monday, December 17, 2018
Kota Kinabalu: The Government has to be very clear with its policy on allowing stateless children to attend public schools, said Angkatan Perpaduan Sabah (APS) President Datuk Seri Wilfred Bumburing.He said such policy may bring adverse effect in future.
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"While we are sympathetic to these people (stateless children), but who is going to pay for them when they enrol in public schools? Is the Government going to pay for them?" he said at APS' general meeting, here, Sunday."The existence of these stateless children is the result of the non-action of the previous government…some of them are not young."If the Government continues with this policy, then foreigners can come to Sabah and give birth here and send their children to public schools…what is the responsibility of the Government?"He also said the non-governmental organisation (NGO) is very concerned with the verbal reports on indiscriminate distribution of identification cards to illegal immigrants.
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"The State Government has denied it but the matter is still a grave concern for us," he said.Meanwhile, the NGO is undergoing a major facelift, including its name. Previously, APS was known as Angkatan Perubahan Sabah.
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"APS was formed in 2012 as a platform to face the 13th General Election. However, after the election, APS had not been active."During that time, our main focus was to bring political change to the State, but since now change has come, we celebrate this change even though we do not play any role in the new government."And today (Sunday), apart from the election of committee members, we will also make major amendments to the organisation's constitution."Among the changes, he said, would be the abolishment of branches for the society."When we were first formed, our structure is like a political party where we have branches."But now, we will amend the constitution to abolish these branches and turn it into direct membership."The positions in the society will also be changed as we noted that previously the number of appointed posts are more than elected ones…this is dangerous as it may lead to dictatorship by the president where he or she can exploit the influences of the appointed committee members," he said.Bumburing also disclosed that the NGO will refocus its activities to be more on awareness programmes to promote unity among genuine Sabahans."We have already met with other NGOs like United Sabah Dusun Association (Usda) and Kadazandusun Cultural Association (KDCA) on unity."And the response has been very positive and we will conduct similar discussions with other NGOs who share the same direction with us soon."He is confident that NGOs are the best avenue to promote unity in the State.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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