KUCHING, Oct 17: State Reform Party (STAR) holds that relaxing Sabahans’ entries to Sarawak is equivalent to allowing illegal emigrates entering the State without restraint.
Its president Lina Soo said she was appalled at Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg’s proposal to ease immigration rulings for Sabahans to enter Sarawak.
“We should learn from the Sabah situation where under Project IC, the local population has been swamped by PTI (pendatang tanpa izin), and easing entry conditions for Sabahans to come in is to allow the PTI to enter Sarawak without restraint,” said Soo in a statement today.
She believed all Sarawakians will rise against twhat she deemed as “preposterous policy”, were it to be approved by the Sarawak government.
Soo observed that there are already hundreds of foreigner Project IC holders of Sabah code 12 now freely doing businesses in towns all over Sarawak including selling carpets and mattresses.
“Immigration and entry into Sarawak is our autonomous power, which was agreed upon during the negotiations for the formation of the federation of Malaysian and it is inked in the Inter-Governmental Report 1962, Malaysia Agreement 1963 and Federal Constitution.”
Soo called upon the Sarawak government to revert to 1963, where passports have to be produced by non-Sarawakians upon entering our borders.
“Sarawak, Sabah and Federation of Malaya are three nations forming the Federation of Malaysia, and it is an infringement upon our Sarawak territorial integrity to allow non-Sarawakians to enter without passport.
“If the Sarawak government is scared even to revive the passport ruling, which was our original policy, how can they claim their efficacy to assert our Sarawak rights?” Soo continued.
She said there must be no compromise over Sarawak’s immigration rights, and the only way to secure the State’s borders is to impose passport ruling, not to emulate Sabah over its population re-engineering by Project IC; and also over general opinion that Malaysia is breeding ground for terrorists.
“In the light of Sabah CM (Chief Minister Datuk Seri) Shafie Apdal’s announcement that 600,000 undocumented people in Sabah will be given official papers, it is even more alarming that after both CMs’ meeting, it is mooted to give Sabahans easy passage into Sarawak.
“As has been proven in the past, it has been very easy to give ICs to non-Malaysians, so another risk is for non-Sabahans to be given Sabahan ICs and gain entry into Sarawak through Sabah.”
Soo expressed surprise over Pending assemblywoman Violet Yong’s opposition to Abang Johari’s proposal to relax entry conditions for Sabahans because when Jeriun MP Datuk Sri Mukhriz Mahathir announced in Parliament in April this year, that it is ‘ridiculous’ for Malaysians to use passport to travel to Sarawak, “there was not a squeak from all the Sarawak DAP MPs in Parliament”.
“Does DAP imply that they object to immigration rules being eased for Sabahans entering Sarawak, but do not object to our immigration autonomy to be abolished for Malayans?”
Soo asked YB Yong to clarify if silence by DAP Sarawak to Mukhriz’s proposal in Parliament meant consent.
She expressed appreciation that Yong was aware that GPS has ‘sold’ our Sarawak oil and gas rights to the Federal Government.
“When will DAP then fight for our oil and gas rights to be returned to Sarawak, or even fulfil the 20% royalty promise for a start?
“If DAP cannot fight for 100 per cent ownership of our oil and gas, and have no objection to Malayans who try to abolish our immigration autonomy, they should stop pretending to be fighting for Sarawak rights and resources,” said Soo. — DayakDaily
