Jeffrey asks if terror suspects were IMM13, MyKad
Published on: Wednesday, April 17, 2019
By: Sherell Jeffrey
Tambunan Assemblyman Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan urged the Government provide the public with findings into the recent arrest of 13 suspected terrorists in Sabah.
“I want to know how they entered the State, and were any of them MyKad holders or IMM13 card holders,” said Jeffrey when debating the government policy speech.
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He also queried the legalisation (pemutihan) issues on undocumented immigrants, and how many have gone through the pemutihan and which sectors had the most undocumented immigrants in Sabah.
Taking a quote from the former Sandakan MP who cited one million undocumented immigrants and 200,000 stateless children in the State, Jeffrey said the issue must be resolved, especially where stateless children is concerned.
“I think the issue of stateless children must be resolved, otherwise they are vulnerable to being exploited by acts of side forces, I would like to hear from both State and Federal government on what measures, apart from the pemutihan, have been taken to address this,” he said.
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He pointed out that the State needs foreign workers, but thinks that documents such as work passes shouldn’t be given to undocumented immigrants unless they are first deported and enter the country the legal way.
On another matter, he also expressed keen interest in hearing the State Government’s stand on the suggestion by former Chief Justice Tan Sri Richard Malanjum who said it was better for non-Muslims to be heading native affairs in Sabah.
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Jeffrey also pointed out the need to look into the welfare of Water Department contractors who have had their contracts terminated.
He said their welfare will indirectly affect the people, who will be consuming the water.
Citing those in his constituency, who are terminated and currently only given work on a daily basis, some are paid RM44 a day, while some paid RM50 a day.
“They are only allowed to work 23 days a month, which means they earn less than what they used to earn, this will affect their livelihood, having no insurance, no Socso, they are stressed, and because of that, they lost motivation to work, they have no heart to work, and when they don’t work, the water is not being treated, and the people are the end users,” he said.
He thus hoped the government and the Ministry concerned will look into resolving the matter.
He also hoped the government will consider the proposed alternatives brought forward by communities from several villages in Papar regarding the Kaiduan/ Papar Dam.
“I agree with their proposals, the government should find a way to address this issue while at the same time preserve our environment,” he said.
Apart from that, he asked the government to look into the possible logging activities which still continues despite the ban on log exports.
Other issues he talked about was on eco-tourism in Apin-Apin where villagers have already started many products but the tourism infrastructure is very poor, as well as a roundabout heading towards the Tambunan Hospital which he thinks should be replaced with a traffic light.
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