Where’s the solution on undocumented migrants, Tangau asks GRS

KOTA KINABALU: Despite its numerous promises, the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) government has failed to solve the state’s long-standing undocumented migrants problem, says a Pakatan Harapan leader.

Upko president Wilfred Madius Tangau claimed that GRS made constant pledges that the problem would be addressed within the ruling coalition’s first 100 days in power.

“That means the problem should have been solved in a little more than three months, but it has been more than 12 months since GRS won the Sabah state elections,” he said, during Upko’s extraordinary general meeting (EGM) in Penampang near here today.

“For example, when we go to the state capital, we still see there are many undocumented migrants.

“There are even some who act aggressively, knocking on car windows asking for money, among other things.

“There are no signs at all that this issue will ever be solved. What happened? Is this ‘janji tarang bulan’?” he said, using a local Sabah idiom referring to a broken promise.

Tangau, who is also Tuaran MP and a former deputy chief minister, said the federal government has equally failed to execute its responsibilities on this front.

Also present at the EGM were Sabah PH and PKR chief Christina Liew and state DAP chief Frankie Poon.

Meanwhile, on claims of colonisation by Putrajaya, Tangau said it was a fact that many of Sabah and Sarawak’s rights had been eroded by the federal government through various amendments to the Federal Constitution in the last 58 years.

He said it was incumbent on the federal government to disprove a claim by former Indonesian president Sukarno that the formation of Malaysia was just another form of colonisation.

During the Indonesia-Malaysia confrontation, Sukarno alleged that the Malaysia project was in fact a form of neo-colonialism as it involved the transfer of the colonial capital from London to Kuala Lumpur.

“Only the full implementation of the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) will disprove the late Indonesian leader’s claim.

“Every Malaysian must be reminded that the MA63 document is key to the country’s formation and must be studied in detail,” Tangau said.

While previous governments had contributed towards stripping Sabah and Sarawak of their rights, Tangau said Putrajaya, however, seemed to have turned over a new leaf now by paying attention to the two states, which it considered as “fixed deposits” during elections.

“This means the federal government will only act to implement or return the rights to Sabah and Sarawak when they are desperate and forced to.

“A Sabah and Sarawak affairs unit has been created in the Prime Minister’s Department. There are leaders who have proposed ‘look towards Borneo’ policies,” he said, adding that Upko welcomed this change of mindset. — Free Malaysia Today