Kota Kinabalu: Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku (Star) Kepayan Division head Jafery Jomion said all that is needed is a Foreign Worker Card registered by an employer or anyone who wants to be a guarantor with a minimum payment rate.
“This is so that not only the government will get the data but the people or guarantors can also monitor their whereabouts.
“If they cause a problem, the guarantor can report it to the authorities for further action,” he said. “There is no need for us to issue a foreigner card to replace the IMM13, the Burung Burung card or the census card as before.”
He was commenting on the proposal to provide documents to long-staying foreigners in the state.
Jafery said foreign workers in the construction sector receive a salary of RM60 to RM100 a day (up to RM3,000 a month) currently which is more than locals who only receive a minimum wage of RM1,200.
“Therefore, there is no reason for them not to be able to pay the cost of a passport or Foreign Worker Card if they have good intentions to earn a living.
“If they fail to register or get a foreign worker card, it means they are lazy and may be involved in crime,” he said.
He agreed with the recommendation by Star President Datuk Seri Jeffrey Kitingan to use the existing law to arrest those illegals.
“We must study and review the history of the State and Federal governments in dealing with the illegal immigration problem, look at the adoption of IMM13, which was the first document that was used from 1972 to 1984 to tackle the issue.
“This document was issued to allow Filipino war refugees to live and work in Sabah at a cost of RM90 a year compared to those who came here legally having to pay more than RM400 for passport costs including work permit guarantees amounting to thousands of ringgit,” he said.
He added that although IMM13 allows refugees to live and work in Sabah and Labuan, it registered a total of 73,000 people and according to studies conducted, as of 2010, it reached 84,000 people.
“The IMM13 project failed because there are many illegals roaming around without fear. Moreover, it was replaced with the ‘Burung-Burung’ Card in 1986 to 1988 with the same function as IMM13.
“After nearly 20 years of analysis, it was found that only 9,000 people were still refugees and the rest about 316,000 people went undetected or had already become ‘express citizens’ or holders of well -known ‘IC projects’,” he said. It is believed that not all IMM13 documents are genuine as forging syndicates were active.
Jafery said, as a result of the census introduced by the Federal Government, a total of 300,000 individuals were registered in 1990 to 1991 in 32 refugee settlement scheme areas in the state.
“However, not all of them held the refugee status. After 19 years many already received Permanent Resident (PR) status, became citizens or stateless.
“In the second census, 59,237 refugees without IMM13 from 1991 to 2007 were registered and obtained Census Certificates, the census was incomplete until 2011. However in 2012, 69,317 people registered but no certificate was issued by the Federal Special Task Force.
“Therefore, of the number recorded, this means after 40 years from 1970 to 2010 and based on the growth rate of their fertile population it is expected to have exceeded 1.6 million people. But why only 136,055 people remain holders of 1MM13, Burung-Burung and Census Certificates in 2020?
“Therefore, why can’t the total of 1.464 million individuals be traced? This number includes the Sulu Lahad Datu intruders who held Mykads, those who have become citizens and migrated to the peninsula or deliberately did not renew their documents for fear of being detected.”
Hence, he said, the best approach is to use the existing law to arrest illegals, cane them and deport to their country of origin as done by Singapore.
“Singapore is the best country to be used as a reference in dealing with such problems or to look for more effective methods,” he said.
