OVER 446,000 DEPORTED FROM SABAH

DEPORTED..... Illegal immigrants being deported from Sabah. Illegal immigration is the biggest bugbear of the locals, and a reason for the waning support for the state government. 

By : BOO SU-LYN

KOTA KINABALU : A total of 446,173 immigrants have been deported from Sabah from 1990 till now, the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on illegal immigrants heard today.

Federal Special Taskforce for Sabah and Labuan director Datuk Suhaimi Mohd Salleh also said today that there were 300,393 foreigners in Sabah and Labuan in 1990, comprising illegal immigrants, foreign workers and refugees.

“Our 2007 census on all settlements showed that there were 59,237 (Filipino refugees),” Suhaimi told the RCI here. In 2011, our census in 16 (out of 32) settlements showed 38,158 (refugees),” he said.

Suhaimi said that there was not enough time or manpower to complete the 2011 census in the remaining 16 settlements in Sabah and Labuan.

RCI chairman Tan Sri Steve Shim Lip Kiong pointed out that the federal taskforce was allocated RM72 million.

“It was sufficient for our first census. But (that money) is for all our operations, including the cost of deportation, arrests, and food and drinks, not just for the census,” said Suhaimi.

He told a full courtroom today that the federal taskforce was still deporting undocumented refugees.

“The newer refugees (after the Seventies) who have no reason to seek refuge aside from the conflict in south Philippines, and who have no documents, were handed over to the Immigration (Department),” he said.

Suhaimi stressed that the federal taskforce had never given identity cards to foreigners, but only census certificates.

Moktar Yassin Ajam, secretary of Internal Affairs and Research in the Chief Minister’s Department, earlier today said there were 33,019 Filipino refugees in Sabah in 2010 without IMM13 documents.

He said the 73,000 figure given by former Chief Minister’s Department’s Settlement Unit head Abdul Jaafar Alip yesterday referred to Filipino refugees who possessed IMM13 documents, which are special immigration passes that allow refugees registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) freedom of movement and employment here.

“The 73,000 refers to those registered at settlement units from 1976 to 1985,” said Moktar.

“The 33,000 figure refers to the census at settlement units between 2007 and 2010, where we were of the opinion that there were refugees who did not have the IMM13 documents. This includes their children,” he added.

The bespectacled man said that out of 33,019 refugees without IMM13 documents, 15,000 were children.

“They are the third and fourth generations from Filipino refugees who came in the early ‘70s,” said Moktar.

He added that the Immigration Department stopped issuing IMM13 documents since 2005.