SABAH leaders from both sides of the political divide want to resolve the problem of inland foreigners in the State, said Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Seri Dr Jeffrey Kitingan.
“However, the solution proposed by the Home Ministry to issue a - ‘Kad Warga Asing’ or ‘Foreign Nationals Card’ seems unacceptable to Sabahans.
“This is because that term can be misinterpreted. We must be precise with our language.
“This is why naming the document ‘non-citizen resident card’ would be more acceptable because it would immediately distinguish these cardholders from the rights of genuine citizens,” he said.
Apart from this, Kitingan said the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah-Barisan Nasional (GRS-BN) Government is currently considering issuing Sabah IC.
He said Sabahans have long advocated for the issuance of the Sabah IC, believing that it would go a long way towards ensuring Sabahan rights are protected.
“This card will also help in the identification of genuine Sabahans from non-Sabahans. It is simple to complete because it is only administrative in nature.
“I agree with Home Minister Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainuddin that we need political will to resolve our problem, particularly our inland foreigner problem.
“We are doing our best to resolve this according to our own abilities, and we hope Putrajaya has the political will to support Sabah’s aspiration,” he said on May 16.
Hamzah had said Sabah’s undocumented migrant issue could be solved by issuing foreigner cards, but it requires approval from the State Government.
During the launch of an event in conjunction with the Kaamatan Festival celebration in the State recently, Hamzah was quoted as claiming the issue of undocumented migrants was a “time bomb” that could trigger more social problems.
“There are many parents and children born without documents but living in Sabah for a long time.
“We don’t want social problems to gain a foothold in Sabah due to this,” Hamzah reportedly said, but did not justify his allegation.
Hamzah, who had proposed the foreigner cards solution, emphasised that the card was not aimed at permanent residency or citizenship.
The Home Minister said the foreigner’s card would also help in overcoming manpower crisis that is happening in various industries and allow for enforcement agencies to weed out criminal elements among undocumented migrants.
In April this year, the Sabah Chapter of Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) said it received multiple reports of “foreigner identity card” scams, where scammers tried to take advantage of foreigners by offering them fake identity or data cards at the price between RM400 to RM2,500.
Undocumented migrants were told by the scammers that these “humanitarian cards” or “temporary registration cards” were part of a government registration system.
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