The Malaysian Insight

MALAYSIA should not trouble itself by regularising undocumented migrants in Sabah but have them repatriated, said a Sabah opposition leader today.

Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku president Jeffrey Kitingan said the Sabah government should focus on dealing with undocumented migrants in accordance to the constitution and immigration laws.

By sending them back, he said, the migrants can re-enter Sabah with passports and work permits. 

“For so long the federal and state governments have shown little political will to round them up and send them home.

“Is the federal government so buried under the many financial and administrative problems that it can no longer act to stem the tide of this possible threat?” he said in a statement issued in Kota Kinabalu.

The proposed threat that Jeffrey is referring to is the so-called reverse takeover of the state by undocumented migrants from Sabahans if Putrajaya decides to regularise them.

Foreigners make up a third of 1,158,300 of the 3.9 million Sabah population and about 70% of them are illegal migrants, according to the State Immigration Department.

To this, Jeffrey said the Malaysian government should not waste resources by regularising the undocumented Filipinos and Indonesians, but let the two countries deal with their own nationals. – May 4, 2019