WORST DISASTER BY LEGALISING ILLEGALS

By: DANIEL JOHN JAMBUN

THE fact that the Federal government had carried out clandestine projects to issue ICs to the illegal immigrants to through the back door is no longer disputed. It is now an open knowledge. For all we know it may still be going on, but what we are sure is that the federal government is not at all concerned about the presence of a huge population of illegals in the state.

But the government is carrying out a self-defeating exercise. If the BN and Umno believes it is good strategy to legalize illegal’s in order to make them voters for Umno, I would urge them to think again.

The potentials for a backlash from such a risky design are great indeed. We know about the possibility of reverse takeover, and the possibility of the Filipino population in Sabah, when they become the majority group soon, asking for independence from the government and aligning themselves to the government of the Philippines, as what happened in Timor Leste.

After all the government of the Philippines has still not dropped its longstanding claim on Sabah. This was the main point elaborated by Datuk Wilfred Mojilip Bumburing in his recent memo to the Minister of Homes Affairs who later rejected the demand for a Royal Commission of Inquiry.

But there is another underlying motive in legalising the illegals in Sabah. The federal government is quite serious in its intention to Malaynise Sabah, but increasing the number of Muslims so that they overwhelm the KDMs and become the majority group in the state.

This demographic engineering may look like a clever way of making Sabah a lasting fixed deposit for the BN, but it is already backfiring on the BN, because there are other problems being created from this insidious exercise to legalise illegals and the BN is not aware of it.

The fact is, this exercise is not making the original Muslim Bumiputera population in Sabah happy at all. Ironically, the Bajaus, who settled in Sabah from the Philippines hundreds of years ago, are now are the direct victims of the increase in Filipino population here.

We can see how the Filipinos have taken over the fishing and fishmongering businesses. The handcraft trade, once dominated by Bajaus, too, is now dominated by Filipinos, who even produce ‘Sabah handicrafts’ in the Philippines and importing them here as ‘locally made.’

Does Umno realise that it is actually losing support from the Muslim population in Sabah because of this resentment against the new Umnoputeras? Umno also needs to be aware that demographic engineering can be like ecological re-engineering by introducing a new species into the long-established eco-system.

Always, the eco-system goes out of balance, with the new species becoming a predator and an uncontrollable pest, like what happened when the wild rabbit was introduced to Australia. The new people have already become uncontrollable pests and is now difficult to control. They have bred and interbred, and the natives are now troubled and fearful.

And there is no guarantee that the immigrants will always support Umno. Situations change, and a whole group of people will no longer hold on to the original understanding when they have enough power to decide things.

So it is very sad and worrying when we think of what is happening to Sabah, especially now that the government which had promised us security and a bright future is no keen to solve the decades old problem of illegal immigrants. And this is not just a state problem, but a national problem, but why is the government taking it so lightly?