Rabu, April 25, 2012

WHEN YOU’RE SURROUNDED BY ILLEGALS

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Borneo Tales: When you’re surrounded by illegals

APRIL 25 — One thing I find people here don’t seem to fathom is the illegal immigration problem in Sabah. It’s a problem that’s gone on for decades — not helped by how porous our borders are.

Some of you think it’s as easy as kicking them out. It’s not that simple. Policing Sabah’s borders is tricky. We are one of the largest states in Malaysia and we share our borders with neighbouring Indonesia, with the southern Philippines only a stone’s throw away. Sabah does not have the resources nor the manpower to man each border and prevent illegals from either crossing over via land or taking boats across the sea.

It doesn’t help that illegal immigrants have been utilised as a convenient means to pad votes come election time.

Everyone knows that while permanent residents in Malaysia aren’t allowed to vote, illegal immigrants are somehow pressed into voting. Deny it as much as Barisan Nasional wants, it’s an open secret that illegal immigrants are given money and the equivalent of “instant citizenship” via gifted MyKads.

Not too long ago, National Registration Staff in Sabah were even found to be selling MyKads.

Some illegal immigrants have lived in Sabah so long, they feel they have gained the right to stay. After all, their livelihoods, their children are all invested in the land. They’re the chosen form of cheap labour by employers who don’t want to have to deal with the messiness of employing locals. Illegal immigrants aren’t picky about where they live or what they get paid. So long as it’s enough for them to survive on, they’re all right.

None want to return to their countries of origin, especially the Southern Filipinos. In the Philippines, they’re often discriminated against in the predominantly Roman Catholic country. Muslims are often painted unfairly as terrorists or possible security hazards. It doesn’t help that the Philippines is a country where the income divide is huge and it’s far easier to get work in Sabah than it is in their own country.

Pulau Gaya, for instance, has become a shantytown of sorts for illegals. They fish, they build their rickety houses and they find comfort in being surrounded by people like them.

If, say, there were massive operations to remove and repatriate them, where would the funds come from? Their countries of origin are loath to care for their circumstances, being burdened enough with the care of the citizens they already have. Yet integration is not an option — most Sabahans do not care for these “intruders” who they often blame for the high crime rates in the state.

Had the problem been nipped in the bud, perhaps things wouldn’t be as dire as they are now. Sabah has this huge unchecked population of illegals, with an influx that will not be stopping any time soon. Most of these “economic immigrants” have been comfortable for so long because those who had the power to limit their arrivals, did nothing to stem the tide.

Even the so-called royal commission of inquiry Sabah politicians have been calling for has yet to materialise. The other problem is finding a humane solution because these are people we’re dealing with. Not mosquitoes. Not weeds. But people.

Many Sabahans do not even feel their votes matter anymore. “Why should I vote? The government will just give ICs to illegals to vote anyway.” The helplessness, the defeatism, those are things you might not understand especially you lobbyists for “a change.”

Next week I will tell you a story about a man, a man who once believed he could stand against BN and had Sabahans believing along with him. But it is a sad tale about how he eventually found that the power of the vote in Malaysia is a power that can easily be misused.

Erna Mahyuni

23 ulasan:

  1. It is difficult to prevent those from neighboring country to cross the border to our states, other than constant patrolling and monitoring the borders, there are not much that can be done about that. I think the Sabah Maritim has planned to install higher technology facilities in order to monitor the borders better.

    BalasPadam
  2. The Immigration department has also conducted countless spot checks and has managed to arrest a lot of illegal immigrants within the states. Hopefully we are able to curb this problem by continuing with these measures.

    BalasPadam
  3. RCI is badly needed in sabah. I hope the government would understand how serious is the condition in sabah with the present of these illegal immigrants.

    BalasPadam
    Balasan
    1. Negeri seperti Selangor juga mempunyai masalah kehadiran PATI ni. RCI wajar ditubuh bukan untuk Sabah saja sebenarnya.

      Padam
  4. Masalah PATI tidak harus dilenggahkan lagi.. tindakan wajar harus diambil.

    BalasPadam
    Balasan
    1. warga asing di Sabah memang ramai. Boleh tahu tu..

      Padam
  5. Golongan PATI mengancam ketenteraman rakyat, harus dihantar balik.

    BalasPadam
    Balasan
    1. Bukan mudah untuk hantar mereka balik. kalau hantar seorang, sepuluh orang pula yang akan datang balik. tidak dinafikan juga adanya 'lubang tikus' yang membolehkan mereka menyusup masuk dengan mudah.

      Padam
  6. Rakyat Sabah semakin kehilangan identiti sebagai warganegara. PATI diberi keutamaan dan menikmati faedah yang berkemungkinan lebih baik dari warga tulen.

    BalasPadam
    Balasan
    1. PATI merampas hak2 bumiputera Sabah.

      Padam
    2. Lebih teruk lagi, ramai PATI ni terlibat dalam jenayah. Penjara di Sabah pun sesak disebabkan oleh mereka.

      Padam
  7. PATI kini makin berleuasa, masalah ini harus diselesaikan segera.

    BalasPadam
    Balasan
    1. Jenayah yang melibatkan PATI juga semakin meningkat. di penjara PATI yang ramai

      Padam
  8. Isu pendatang tanpa izin harus diselesaikan dengan segera.

    BalasPadam
  9. Jika masalah ini tidak dibendung pasti akan memberi masalah besar kepada Sabah di masa akan datang.

    BalasPadam
  10. Semua kena beri kerjasama agar isu ini cepat diselesaikan.

    BalasPadam
  11. Kita percaya pasti pelbagai operasi akan dilakukan bagi membenteras PATI ini.

    BalasPadam
  12. in view of the influx of illegal immigrants in Sabah is a serious matter and should not be taken lightly by all parties, then it must be resolved immediately.

    BalasPadam
  13. Perkara ini bukan sahaja berkaitan dengan isu politik tetapi ianya soal sosial, perlembagaan, kebudayaan, keselamatan dan isu-isu demografi yang perlu diselesaikan secara positif tetapi tegas sebelum PRU akan datang.

    BalasPadam
  14. buktikan kepada rakyat bahawa kerajaan negeri/pusat benar-benar prihatin terhadap isu projek IC dan PATI yang sedang dihadapi di Sabah

    BalasPadam
  15. Hopefully this issue will be resolved

    BalasPadam
  16. berharap RCI dapat ditubuhkan kerana inilah yang diingini oleh rakyat Sabah

    BalasPadam
  17. jika anggota penguatkuasa laut dan darat dapat memberikan komitmen 100% kepada tugas mereka, pasti masalah ini boleh diselesaikan.. sebelum ini pun sudah beberapa kali tersiar di surat khabar dan media2 dalam talian dimana anggota penguatkuasa ini juga terlibat dengan penyalahgunaan kuasa dan juga rasuah..

    BalasPadam