Linking Shafie to Sulu: Party lodges report
Published on: Friday, September 13, 2024
By: Suria Abdullah
Terrence (3rd right) showing the police report while others look on.
Kota Kinabalu: Parti Warisan Wira chief Terrence Au lodged a report against a portal for allegedly publishing fake news and slanderous articles about Warisan President Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal.
In the report lodged at the Penampang police station on Wednesday, the portal had alleged that “Shafie and his Warisan government at that time were close with the Sulu leaders, so much that their governance policy was friendly with the Sulu Sultanate”.
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It allegedly said Shafie was so close to the Philippines government and was willing to acknowledge the Philippines’ claim on Sabah.
Terrence denied and condemned such statements. He called on police to investigate and to take action against the writers and operators of the portal and bring them to court.
He said the GRS State Government should explain how the number of illegal immigrants are now over a million in the latest Statistics Department census.
He said non citizens had exceeded 1.04mil as at 2024, according to the report.
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“This is worrying because this is the largest amount ever recorded in history,” he said.
He said from 2020, the number of non-citizens increased by around 233,000 people, whereas in 2023, their population stood at 921,000, an increase of 156,800 compared to 764,200 in 2022.
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He noted, coincidentally, the state government forged closer business relations with the government of Tawi-Tawi which saw its Governor visit the state in January last year, said Au.
He said though state authorities seem to be taking action against illegal immigrants via arrests and deportations, the data by the Statistics Department is saying otherwise.
Au said the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) coalition was very vocal about this matter and did not stop harping on the issue when they were with Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia.
He said the GRS did not stop going on and on about the illegal immigrant issue throughout the 2020 state election campaigns, as well as the Sabah Temporary Pass.
When GRS became government, they in turn suggested another special pass for the undocumented people, he said.
“Now this special foreigners pass changed to the Sabah Workers Integrated Management System (SWIMS) whereby some 40,000 foreign workers were registered as of April this year,” Au said.
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