“JAGA-JAGA. SAYA INGAT PLAT NOMBOR KERETA KAU.” – ANAK PATI

Illegal immigrants’ kids annoy Penampang residents

Immigrant children seen playing near a dumpsite at Donggongon township in Penampang.

KOTA KINABALU Feb 15, 2012: Sabah’s first Facebook youth movement, the Penampang Youth Movement For Change (PYM4C) is calling the relevant authorities to conduct an immediate inspection into the activities of several children, believed to be the offsprings of illegal immigrants, who rummage through recycleable items at a dumpsite located near to the parking lot at Restaurant 818, Bandar Donggongon, Penampang.

In making this call, the group’s admin coordinator for year 2012, Jorge Ant, disclosed that the children will approach and ask locals who want to throw their rubbish away at the dumpsite if they require assistance to transfer the rubbish from the booth to the dumpster.

“Sometimes, even if the locals say ‘No’, the children would pretend not to listen and rushed to grab the rubbish away from the vehicle and thereafter demand a payment of RM5 from the locals,” said Ant in a statement to The Borneo Post yesterday.

Ant added that if the locals refused, the children would issue threatening remarks such as “Jaga-jaga. Saya ingat plat nombor kereta kau.” (Be careful. I remember your car’s plate number).

“Are the children smarter than the authorities by circumventing the law against begging by adopting this modus operandi? And are our relevant authorities truly helpless in this matter?” Ant asked.

He related that while waiting for the people to throw away their rubbish at the dumpsite, these children are also seen loafing around in the area on bicycles and some of them are also seen puffing away cigarettes.

“What will happen if they begin to take drugs and later in their teen years, introduce it to the local teenagers?” he asked.

“The children also play with several discarded tyres to cause some of these tyres to end up in the monsoon drain and this will definitely cause a major blockage to the drainage system.

“Those tyres would not be in the drain if in the first place the relevant authorities have ensured that the place is free from these children,” Ant said.

“Now, the crucial question is, who is going to retrieve those tyres from the drain? Are the relevant authorities going to play the ‘pointing-fingers’ game again by saying that the drain is not under their jurisdiction?

“Or, will the relevant authorities simply close their eyes or say they lack the manpower and hope that the tyres will be washed away to wherever they will end?

“And should there be flooding again in the area, where these tyres finally end their journey along the monsoon drain, will the relevant authorities give the usual excuse again such as high tide and unusual amount of rainfall?” Ant asked.

He also expressed his disappointment when neither action has been taken nor any reply given by the people’s representatives on this matter.

According to Ant, when discussions were held between the members of the group, the Penampang member of parliament, the Moyog assemblyman and the Penampang district officer, they have been “tagged” several times for their attention.

These representatives may not be active Facebook users but at least those who belong to the same organisation as they are would have taken the initiative to inform them of this matter, he said.

“I think this is a sad situation because even the Prime Minister has acknowledged the importance of the social media to enable the ordinary people to interact with him on important issues,” said Ant.