Kota Kinabalu: The State Government must be given full autonomy to handle and address the long-standing issues of undocumented immigrants and stateless people in Sabah, said Sabah PKR chief Datuk Christina Liew.
She made the proposal during a debate on the Government Policy Speech by the Head of State at the 16th State Legislative Assembly sitting on Monday.
"This issue has been a thorn in the flesh for Sabah for several decades since the 1970s. And obviously, the Royal Commission of Inquiry on Illegal Immigrants in Sabah (RCI) that was set up in 2012 had failed to resolve the problem, due to lack of political will to act on the numerous recommendations of the RCI," said the Api-Api representative.
"Only through full autonomy for Sabah will the State be able to resolve this problem once and for all. It is high time that we remove this thorn. Why can't we settle this issue after 50 years?" she asked.
She stressed that the Special Committee on Undocumented Foreign Workers and Foreign Nationals headed by Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Seri Dr Jeffrey Kitingan must be empowered to specifically deal with all stakeholders and act without fear or favour in seeking a permanent solution to the problem.
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