By Lian Cheng
KUCHING, Dec 29: There is only one case of “buang negeri” in Sarawak presently which involves a Sarawak-born criminal who has moved to Sabah and committed crime there.
Deputy Police Commissioner (DCP) Datuk Fisol Salleh said the criminal is now placed in a rehabilitation institution in Bintulu.
He stressed that contrary to general public perception, apart from the above mentioned case, there is no more hardened criminals from Peninsular Malaysia being “buang negeri” to Sarawak.
“This is not true. Sarawakians do not have to worry. There is no more bad criminals from Peninsular Malaysian who are being ‘buang negeri’ and residing in Sarawak.
“There is presently only one ‘buang negeri’ case which is a CID case. It involves a Sarawakian, who had committed a crime in Sabah and is now being ‘buang negeri’ in Bintulu,” Fisol told DayakDaily.
He however pointed out that under ‘buang daerah’ policy, there are still Sarawakian criminals who are sent to another district to be rehabilitated where they may be kept in correction centres in that district or their movements be restricted within the particular district.
“And when they are being ‘buang daerah, we place surveillance on them. They are being closely monitored,” said Fisol.
Fisol is responding to the recent case raised by Sarawakian activist Peter John Jaban who had called for the review of the continual residence of “buang negeri” criminals who were “dumped” in the rural areas of Sarawak and Sabah.
Peter John brought up the issue following the recent death of a Sabahan native who was suspected to be killed by a “buang negeri” former convict in a brawl in Beaufort last week.
The suspect who is from Peninsular Malaysia has seven criminal cases in Selangor linked to him between 2003 to 2004. He spent a year in jail in 2007 and was released from police supervision in 2008. He is married to a woman from Keningau and has five children with no more conviction since then.
The suspect after the chaotic brawl was rumoured to have entered Sarawak through Lawas.
On whether the rumour was true, Fisol said all relevant units within the police force such as CID and Special Branch have been alerted and they are monitoring all possible channels of entrances from Sabah to Sarawak. — DayakDaily
