It's against sovereignty of Sabah: Leiking
Published on: Wednesday, November 05, 2014
KOTA KINABALU: Penampang MP Darell Leiking said the recent statement by the executive director of Lawyers for Liberty, Eric Paulsen, only amplifies the need for a thorough and detailed discussion before the Federal Government proceeds with the issuance of birth certificates for stateless children in Sabah.This must involve the Federal and State Government officials, elected Sabah representatives from both the Parliament and State Assembly, community and NGO leaders.He said as Paulsen had correctly pointed out, even Deputy Chief Minister cum President of PBS, Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan, had objected to the proposal to issue birth certificates to these children.
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"And this is similarly echoed by two other Sabah's political party leaders namely Datuk Seri Yong Teck Lee (SAPP) and Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan (Star)," he said. Nevertheless, Leiking said the issues raised by all of them are not aimed as a populist or a political objection but rather a sense of duty for Sabah. Paulsen, he said, contended that:l Immigrants in the State (irrespective of whether they are born of legal or illegal migrant parents) @ Must be protected and equally given human rights treatment such as healthcare and educationl is the international obligation by members who ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child to issue birth certificates to people born in its respective countries irrespective of whether they are of legal or illegal immigrants and it will not in anyway be related with the issuance of citizenships or electoral registration; and
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l Decades of cross border migration (either legally or illegally) between Sabah and its neighbouring countries have developed a saturated ethnic in the State whereby some of these migrants have now been issued citizenship or permanent residency and thus, they have relevant link and must be protected under the Malaysian law. "While I accept all the contentions forwarded by Paulsen as legal perspectives, as a Sabahan and an elected Parliamentarian representative…these arguments are against the sovereignty of Sabah," he said.
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He suggested Paulsen and his team of Lawyers for Liberty conduct a basic research on the formation of the Federation of Malaysia and the Malaysian Agreement 1963 first before commenting. Leiking reiterated that he welcomes immigrants who have entered Sabah legally since they are also equally contributing to the economic well being of the State and that over the years they have been regulated and are on working visas. However, he said, when there exists almost a million illegal immigrants or Projek IC holders in Sabah (as revealed during the Royal Commission of Inquiry RCI), there should be an explanation on Paulsen's three contentions.He said due to the huge number of legal or illegal immigrants/Project IC holders in Sabah, they had incurred RM21.67 million in hospital or medical bills between the year 2000 and 2011.During that period, he said, a staggering number of 1.3 million foreigners were given outpatient treatment in government hospitals. A primary school in Papar, SK Kinarut that was established in 1937, he said, has been completely over-populated by children of these immigrants forcing the local students to look for other schools elsewhere. The school, he said, is located within walking distance from the Filipino Refugee Resettlement Scheme.And due to the national education policy, the school has no choice but to enroll these immigrant children."I am tempted to ask if Paulsen and his team are willing to adopt these stateless children (if they are granted Birth Certificates) and move them to West Malaysia which has enough classrooms and subsequently reside them in West Malaysia. "Many Sabahans will agree on this," he said.Leiking said he agrees that each child or person should be given access to education and that this is a universal right."For all we know, there might be amongst these stateless children, the next Albert Einstein, Mark Zuckerberg, Pua Kheng Seng or Pedro Flores. "But the issue is citizenship and why Sabah can no longer afford to be demographically changed into a worse balance then it is now," he said.Thus, on Paulsen's first contention, he said Paulsen need not feel worried that the immigrants in Sabah are being mistreated. In fact, he said, they are well taken care of, at the expense of the government and locals. It is also a fact, he said, that hospital beds have been taken over by them much to the loss of genuine Sabahans. "The right to medicare is indeed respected but to what limit when our own who pay taxes and, yes, bills have to fight for medical and treatment facilities," he said.On Paulsen's second contention that Sabah/Malaysia must adhere to the/any international law in which it ratifies, he said Paulsen should know that Sabah has a unique experience in demographic engineering."This is a reality whilst there would be no country in the world who would allow itself to be decimated by the influx of immigrants which are silently taking over the sovereignty of the State," he said. In 2010 census that was conducted by the Statistics Department, Sabah registered a population of 3,117,405 million whereby 867,190 were non-Malaysian citizens."While this number itself is alarming, what about of those who are uncounted for to date?" he asked.And between 2007 and 2012, he said, foreigners registered a total of 122,882 births in government hospitals. "So, from this 867,000 non-Malaysian citizens, how many more offspring were born outside the hospital?" he asked. Thus, Leiking asked if it would be still practical for Paulsen to rely on international treaty when the sovereignty of Sabah or Federation of Malaysia is at stake with almost 123,000 births by foreigners being recorded officially during the period of five years.Moreover, he said, the 867,000 non-Malaysian citizens will still be producing children. On Paulsen's third contention, he said that there is no doubt that there exists several ethnic groups within the East Coast of Sabah that originated or are related to ethnic groups in neighbouring countries. "So, yes, provided they are genuine and of Sabah origin, the contention that Paulsen gave is the failure of the current administration in not reaching out to genuine people of Sabah in the East Coast of Sabah," he said. He said that Sabah and Sarawak Chief Judge, Tan Sri Richard Malanjum, and his team of judicial officers had through their initiative created the Mobile Court to register as many people that the government could not reach.To this, he proposed that the Mobile Court's role be enhanced further."However, cross border migration or even links with other ethnicities in neighbouring countries should not become the reason as to why the Malaysian immigration law should be set aside and illegal immigrants be allowed to enter Sabah with the hopes of being naturalised or given permanent residency," he said. Those who entered illegally, he said, must be detained and deported accordingly. "Surely there must be a reason why immigration law was enacted in the first place and that is to protect the sovereignty of the country," he said. There is no justification, he said, for anyone to break the immigration law by entering the State illegally and thereafter expecting the government to provide education or healthcare to their offspring at the expense of the locals. "Even my colleague, Datuk Seri Abdul Ghapur Salleh, the BN MP for Kalabakan had lamented in Parliament as to how unsafe he feels now due to the cross border migration," he said.Paulsen, he said, should ask the most critical question of all in that once the birth certificates have been issued to these stateless children, which country will be then be issuing citizenship to them once they have reached 18. "Will they be deported back to their parents' countries of origin? If yes, then why are their parents' countries of origin refusing to accept them now? "Because, if not, when they turn 18, they will technically break the Malaysian immigration law for staying illegally in Sabah. "But since nobody wants to claim them, then eventually, the Malaysian government will have to issue citizenship to them," he said.Leiking said Paulsen should be aware that the present government is known to change policies at anytime."Who knows some 10 years later or earlier, the government might suddenly grant them citizenship. This is despite our proposal to put on the face of such birth certificate that 'this document is not legible for citizenship'," he said."Would Paulsen guarantee Sabahans that this will not happen?" he asked.But in true Sabahan natural hospitality and courtesy, Leiking said he is thankful for the opinions by Paulsen since it is now clear that this issue must be thoroughly discussed before the Federal government can proceed with its proposal. "This issue has a very serious repercussion to the State and Federal governments and they must immediately call all relevant parties to take part in the discussion for a solution to this once and for all," he said. However, Leiking said the non-negotiable term would be that these people, if they were granted birth certificates, which he opposes even without a thorough debate, could never be granted citizenship. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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