KUCHING, Dec 5: It is not easy to monitor and stop all illegal immigrants from entering Sarawak although the Sarawak-Kalimantan border has been sealed.
Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) secretary-general Datuk Janang Bungsu said the Sarawak border with Kalimantan is 1,032km in length and most parts of the stretch are covered by dense jungles, making the monitoring and detection challenging.
Despite that, he asserted that chairman of the State Border Security Committee Tan Sri Dr James Jemut Masing has never denied the difficulty in guarding the porous border.
“So far, the authorities have uncovered a total of 33 illegal routes into Sarawak of which they have been fortified and monitored.
“But once any illegal route is sealed, new jalan tikus (unchartered routes) will be created in a jiffy by unscrupulous people to facilitate their illegal cross border activities,” he explained.
Relating to this matter where illegal immigrants manage to enter into Sarawak with the assistance of local Sarawakians, he said Masing has actually voiced his concern in the recent State Legislative Assembly sitting and even requested for budget from the federal government to enhance border security.
He was responding to the recent statement by Democratic Action Party (DAP) Serian chairman Brolin Nicholsion, questioning the state government’s handling of border security which led to the positive Covid-19 case on Dec 3 of an illegal Indonesian worker.
Noting that empowerment of the border security requires the cooperation of the state and federal governments, Janang thus urged all DAP Sarawak MPs to join in the request for more budget from the federal government to ensure more effective monitoring.
“As a concern Sarawakian, DAP Serian chairman should urge all his DAP Sarawak MPs to request for more allocation by federal government so that the security of the 1,032km porous international border could be effectively monitored, hence giving Sarawakians better protection.
“Sarawak government cannot do it all on its own. The state and authorities need the cooperation from all parties,” he said. — DayakDaily
