KUCHING, Sept 2: Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) Central Youth is calling for the revival of the Sarawak Rangers security force.
SUPP Central Youth Chief Michael Tiang said since Sarawak has autonomy over its immigration, it would need its own security forces like the Sarawak Rangers to be revived to look after its borders and entry points.
“Pursuant to Article 5 of the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63), Sarawak was given autonomy over immigration to control entry into the State.
“Such autonomous powers are so important to Sarawak that every State Immigration Director and his officers who guard the border entries, must all be Sarawakians in order to uphold the integrity in our immigration control.
“However, such immigration control would not be effective and complete if Sarawak doesn’t have its own security forces to patrol and guard Sarawak’s borders against any illegal entry through our borders. We just cannot let others do the job for us. It just doesn’t make sense.
“This is as good as saying that a house owner only has the power to guard his front gate but he has no place in guarding the fences around his house as the job is done by someone else,” he said in a statement today.
Tiang’s call to revive the Sarawak Rangers echoed what Santubong MP Datuk Seri Wan Junaidi’s statement for Sarawak to have its own security forces by reviving the Sarawak Rangers to guard the state’s borders.
Wan Junaidi insisted that Sarawakians who serve in Sarawak Rangers would be the best people to look after their own sovereign territory and the terrains they know best.
Tiang opined, it is time for the Sarawak Rangers to be revived as to enhance Sarawak’s border control, not only to prevent illegal entries but also to further tighten up border control on infectious diseases being brought to Sarawak. — DayakDaily
