The Malaysian Insight

PARTI Warisan Sabah should be looking for a solution to the problem of illegal immigrants in Sabah instead of pointing fingers at the preceding Barisan Nasional administration, said former Sabah chief minister Musa Aman. 

He said the party looked for someone to blame each time the state government was questioned about presence of undocumented foreigners in the state.

“In this case, they have conveniently decided to pick on me for political mileage.

“I unequivocally deny any involvement in Project IC. Neither the authorities nor the Royal Commission of Inquiry on illegal immigrants had found me guilty of any involvement,” he said in a statement issued in Kota Kinabalu, today.  

“As to why I did not sue the author of the book (who wrote about) my alleged involvement in Project IC, the allegations were so absurd and false that there was no need to dignify them with a response especially since I was busy administering the government at the time,” said Musa, referring to the book written by former Sabah PKR member Dr Chong Eng Leong. 

Musa said Sabahans were increasingly suspicious that illegal immigrants were being granted papers allowing then to stay on and that their fears were justified.  

He said this serious threat to Sabah’s security had only surfaced after Warisan came into power last year. 

“This concern is real especially in light of the news and social media post which have reported the unusually frequent breakout of fires in major squatter settlements throughout Sabah followed by stories of National Registration Department mobile trucks turning up soon after and issuing new documents to the ‘fire victims’,” he said. 

There have recently been a number of fires in water villages and squatter settlements in the state.

“One cannot blame the people for this growing suspicion when one’s own state government proposes policies such as to establish squatter colonies on a border island. 

“I welcome the recent decision of the police to open an investigation into ‘Citizen Drive’ linked to Warisan,” said the Sibuga assemblyman. 

Musa said the police should also investigate the many incidents of fires in the squatter areas since June last year. 

“We have nothing against documents being issued to bonafide foreigners who have lived here for a considerable period of time. This is not a race issue. 

“But we are against the provision of documents such as Mykad to illegal immigrants who have encroached our borders recently and and become citizens overnight.”

This, if left unchecked, will pose a security threat and undermine the sovereignty of the nation.” – May 27, 2019.