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Kota Kinabalu: Penampang MP Darell Leiking (pic) clarified that what he wished to convey in his report “Be Strict Also On Sarawakians, Not Just Illegals” which appeared on Page 3 in the Daily Express on Friday was that Sabah wished to be like Sarawak which practices its autonomy on Immigration Powers. “We are proud that they kept their powers of Immigration to ensure records of entry into Sarawak,” he said, referring to his speech at an IDs forum.

“Sabahans admire and wholly respect the Sarawak Government’s Powers (by accepting their 60 to 90 days Social Visa Entry when we enter Sarawak).  “Hence, I believe our Sarawakian Brothers and Sisters will also respect Sabahans and be proud that Sabah will finally follow Sarawak’s position on its immigration Powers just as when Sabahans enter the Sovereign State of Sarawak,” he said in a statement here on Friday.

 Darell said the pursuit by Sabah and Sarawak to enforce the Malaysia Agreement 1963 and its agreed powers in the inherent Sovereign Rights emplaced in the formation of the Federation of Malaysia will mark another firmness over what had been agreed to on the formation. -  For the record, we reproduce below what Darrel said at the event: “If we do not have control of our borders, then we are screwed. Sarawak has managed to, but we have to. I have urged the CM, of course he’s a very kind man. I said it will not affect our business.  “Of course, initially, it will when we introduce visa for our Sarawakian friends to enter Sabah. There is no harm. They also do that to us. And I believe reciprocally they’ll respect us for doing the same. “When they enter Sabah, we must know who and where they are. Just like the illegal immigrants before I end (my speech). Just like the illegal immigrants. Eh, this has impact in your solution as well.  “The illegal immigrants, as long as we don’t document them, we don’t know what and where they are. We have to admit that we need to be a little bit tough, despite all the criticisms, we need to document these guys. We are not going to make them citizens but we have to document who they are.”

 Thus, it can be seen that at no occasion did DE equate Sarawakians with PTIs. Far from it, we maintain that the heading “Be Strict Also On S’wakians, Not Just Illegals” in our view reflected what was said at the event.