Kerjasama Kerajaan Persekutuan dan Negeri Mampu Kurangkan Masalah PATI-Pairin

KOTA KINABALU, 15 Ogos- Timbalan Ketua Menteri Sabah Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan yakin kerjasama serta antara kerajaan Persekutuan dan kerajaan negeri dapat mengurangkan masalah kebanjiran pendatang asing tanpa izin (PATI) ke negeri itu.

Menurutnya, kerjasama itu penting kerana jabatan Polis dan Imigresen adalah di bawah kuasa kerajaan persekutuan yang boleh membantu mencegah kedatangan pendatang asing tanpa izin ke negeri itu terutama dari Filipina dan Indonesia.

Selain itu, bekas ketua menteri Sabah itu berkata kerajaan Persekutuan mempunyai kuasa politik bagi menggerakkan penguatkuasaan undang-undang bagi mengekang masalah itu.

"Sepanjang menjadi Ketua Menteri Sabah saya sudah berusaha sedaya upaya bagi mengatasi masalah kedatangan pendatang asing terbabit tetapi tidak berjaya tanpa kerjasama erat kerajaan Persekutuan.

"Rakyat Sabah ketika itu amat bimbang dengan isu kedatangan pendatang asing ini kerana ia menggugat kedudukan ekonomi dan keselamatan awam tempatan," katanya ketika memberi keterangan kepada Suruhanjaya Siasatan Diraja (RCI) Mengenai Pendatang Asing Di Sabah di sini Khamis.

Pairin berkata rakyat negeri itu mahu keselamatan dan ketenteraman mereka terjamin serta isu pendatang asing tanpa izin terutama dari Filipina dapat diselesaikan dengan segera.

Justeru, katanya beliau memberikan beberapa cadangan bertulis tentang isu berkenaan untuk diatasi kerajaan Persekutuan kepada perdana menteri ketika itu, Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Menurutnya, atas kesedaran tentang jaminan keselamatan penduduk Sabah juga mendorong Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) menyertai semula Barisan Nasional (BN).

Pairin, yang juga merupakan saksi ke 199, berkata rakyat Sabah mahukan pembangunan tetapi dalam masa sama mereka mahu hidup dalam keadaan aman, selamat dan tenteram.

Sementara itu, seorang lagi saksi, Datu Akjan Datu Ali Muhammad, seorang ahli perniagaan, memberitahu prosiding bahawa pendatang asing tanpa izin yang bekerja di Sabah patut diberi dokumen sementara supaya pergerakkan mereka dapat dikawal oleh pihak berkuasa.

"Pihak penguatkuasa boleh mengambil tindakan tegas sekiranya mereka melanggar undang-undang dan peraturan di negeri ini, " katanya.BERNAMA

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Bernard Dompok agrees recall of all ICs issued in Sabah needed : RCI

KOTA KINABALU: Tan Sri Bernard Dompok has agreed with the suggestion by several Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) witnesses including assemblymen, to recall all identity cards issued in Sabah to preserve the integrity of these documents.

The former Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister said recalling all the ICs was one of the methods to solve illegal immigrant issues in Sabah.

"Although this may sound extreme, it has to be done.

"I am sure people would not mind as long as the identities of true Sabahans can be revealed," he said while testifying at the Royal Commission of Inquiry on Friday.

"There was a study conducted on this issue and from the study we found that about 257,026 ICs are dubious," he said.

Dompok, who is the former Sabah Chief Minister and current United Pasokmomobun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation (Upko) president, also said laws must be changed and enforced if the government really wanted to solve the problem.

"All Malaysian documents which have been given out to non-Malaysians dubiously should be retracted and their names taken out of the electoral roll," he added.

Earlier, Dompok said he resigned from his post as chairman of the federal select committee after noticing that there were integrity issues within government officers and the committee.

"I was conducting an interview with government officers on issues pertaining to the immigrant problems faced in Sabah but the people were reluctant to speak.

"At one point, they were ordered not to attend the interviews anymore," he said.

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Sabah RCI to resume June 17

PETALING JAYA: The Royal Commission of Inquiry on illegal immigrants in Sabah will resume on June 17 until June 21.

Commission secretary Datuk Saripuddin Kassim said in a statement that the proceedings will commence at the Federal Court at the Kota Kinabalu Court Complex at 9:30am.

So far a total of 107 witnesses have testified before the five-man panel led by former Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Tan Sri Steve Shim Lip Khong.

The commission started its first hearings in Jan 14 this year.

In March, His Majesty the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong extended the commission's hearing period for six months, from March 21 to Sept 20.

The government first announced the forming of the commission in Aug 2012 to investigate allegations of Malaysian citizenship and identity cards handed out to foreigners since the 1980s.

The Star 

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RCI Calls For Review Of Section In Sabah Ordinance

 KOTA KINABALU, May 27 (Bernama) -- The Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) into Sabah's immigrant problem has called for a section of the Sabah Ordinance 1964 on the interpretation of natives to be reviewed at the annual native court conference.

When asked by RCI commissioner Tan Sri Herman J Luping if people from Indonesia, the Philippines or Singapore should be considered as Sabah natives, Kudat District Chief Harun Bidin said "No. There is a Suluk race in Sabah as well as in the Philippines but we do not recognise Suluk in the Philippines as Sabah natives."

Herman, who sat in the five-member panel chaired by former chief judge of Sabah and Sarawak, Tan Sri Steve Shim Lip Kiong, also asked if chapter 64 of the Interpretation (Definition of Native) Ordinance should be repealed and brought to the annual native court conference, Harun said it was a good idea.

The inquiry was told there was a draft proposal by the Attorney-General's Chambers on native family law in Sabah following then state attorney-general Datuk Roderic Fernandez's statement that the Native Court Enactment 1992 and all the rules made in 1995 had to be revised.

However, Herman said there was no development on it and suggested that Harun bring the matter up at the next native court conference and push for the draft to be realised.

Meanwhile, Kota Marudu native Charles Magada appealed to the government to provide him and his neighbours with houses under the Hardcore Poor Housing Programme (PPRT) in Kampung Bukit Punai.

He said the 100 families of Rungus and Dusuns in the squatter area had no where else to go once development on the new court complex takes place.

"Our land in Kota Marudu had been taken by oil palm plantation companies. If we have to evacuate the place (Kampung Bukit Punai), we need to find another place as we no longer have land in Kota Marudu to go home to."

The other panel members are former Universiti Malaysia Sabah vice-chancellor Prof Datuk Seri Dr Kamaruzzaman Ampon, former Kuala Lumpur police chief Datuk Henry Chin Poy Wu and former Sabah state secretary Datuk KY Mustapha.

The inquiry resumes Tuesday.

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Foreign nationals owe RM21.67mil in medical bills: RCI

 

KOTA KINABALU: Foreign nationals owe Sabah hospitals RM21.67 million in medical bills from 2007 to 2012, the Royal Commission Of Inquiry (RCI) heard Tuesday.

Principal assistant director of health (communicable diseases control), Sabah Health Department, Dr Maria Suleiman said it involved 42,092 foreigners, mostly from the Philippines and Indonesia.
"When the Health Department referred payment to the addresses given, they were not there and could not be contacted by phone," she said.

The 75th witness said the cost of treatment was higher than the RM7,723,839.23 for Malaysians over the same period.

Conducting officer Datuk Azmi Arifin was told that between 2000 and 2011, some 1.3 million foreigners were given outpatient treatment in Sabah hospitals.

Dr Maria said some 295,053 foreign nationals were warded over the same period. A total of 122,882 births by foreigners were also recorded.

To receive treatment, foreigners only have to bring their passport, work permit and IMM13 (temporary identification receipt) but most did not have any personal documents.

She told observer lawyer John Sikayun of the Sabah Law Association that hospitals continued to treat foreigners as doctors could not turn away patients.

The inquiry was also told that the government spent RM614,355 on foreign juvenile detainees from 2007 to 2012.

It was the average cost of managing juvenile detainees at Keningau Henry Gurney School and Kota Kinabalu Henry Gurney School.

Deputy Superintendent of Kota Kinabalu Prisons Kalbin Mohd Said said the foreign detainees were from the Philippines and Indonesia.

The proceedings, held before a five-member panel headed by former chief judge of Sabah and Sarawak Tan Sri Steve Shim Lip Kiong, continues Wednesday.

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RCI gets 6-month extension

Published on: Thursday, March 14, 2013

Kota Kinabalu: The Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on Illegal Immigrants in Sabah has been given a six-month extension to complete its report from March 21 to Sept. 20 this year.

According to RCI Secretary, Datuk Saripuddin Kassim, the extension was consented to by the Yang di Pertuan Agong in line with provisions under Section 5 of the 1950 Royal Commission Inquiry Act (Act 119).

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najb Tun Razak had presented the appointment letters to the commissioners led by former Sabah and Sarawak Chief Judge, Tan Sri Steve Shim and panel members on September 21 last year.

Shim is being aided by four other commissioners namely former UMS Vice Chancellor, Prof Datuk Dr Kamaruzzaman Ampon, former State Attorney-General, Tan Sri Herman Luping, former State Secretary Datuk K Y Mustafa and deputy chairman of the Malaysia Crime Prevention Foundation cum former Kuala Lumpur police chief, Datuk Henry Chin.

The recent RCI public hearing scheduled for March 5 had been postponed to a later date.

Source : Daily Express

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