(From left) Yee, Malanjum and Dr Chong at the book launch.
KOTA KINABALU (Jan 27): Social activist Dr Chong Eng Leong on Saturday launched his second book on Sabah’s abnormal population growth and issues with phantom voters titled ‘Population Explosion and Demographic Shift in Sabah’.
The book, Dr Chong’s second, is on issues linked to migrants in Sabah, refugees and stateless foreigners. It was launched in the presence of former Malaysia Chief Justice Tun Richard Malanjum, retired senior civil servant Datuk Stan Yee and former Sabah State Secretary Tan Simon Sipaun.
Malanjum who introduced Dr Chong to the attendees that packed The G.C Woolley Hall in the State Museum on Saturday, said the latter told him of his intention to write the book three years ago.
“I asked him why he wanted to write this book, he said, ‘if I don’t write what would our future generation think of us? Where is the record? Which I think is right.
“This book is a very important historical document and all of us are part of history today because there is a book which I am very sure in the future would be used as a reference book for data and information. Even the first book that Dr Chong wrote, ‘Lest we Forget’, has become a reference book by our politicians. I congratulate him for writing this book,” he said.
Dr Chong’s lifelong dedication to scrutinizing demographic data manipulations in Sabah was unveiled during the event as the book shed light on shocking revelations surrounding the abuse of power in granting identification cards and citizenship to non-qualified or illegal immigrants as exposed by the Royal Commission of Inquiry.
Specifically dedicated to younger Sabahans, the book unravels the roots of Sabah’s population explosion and proposes comprehensive solutions to address the issue.
He proposes tackling corruption among enforcement outfits and setting up a Philippines consulate in Sabah, Malaysian consulates in Nunukan in Indonesia and Zamboanga City in the Philippines as possible solutions.
When met by reporters later, Dr Chong who was asked what his advice to the government of the day, especially the state government would be on addressing the illegal immigrant issue, said that there must be political will from Sabah with genuine collaboration from the federal government.
“All this while there was nothing concrete done to address the issue, it was only lip service. They must not only give lip service otherwise we cannot move forward,” he said.
According to him, there is a need to implement the long-delayed registration of unregistered foreign workers, undocumented foreigners and those possessing various refugee documents which was one of the recommendations of the 2013 Royal Commission of Inquiry’s (RCI) findings into Sabah’s migrant problem.
“Sabah leaders must exhibit political will in addressing the matter and urge federal leadership to collaborate genuinely for a resolution,” he said and pointed out that nothing has been done even though more than 10 years have elapsed since the RCI recommended that temporary resident cards be issued to undocumented foreigners in the state.
He said that when the Warisan state government tried to implement the RCI-recommended temporary resident card in 2019, it was strongly opposed by its then-opponents, such as Sabah STAR president Datuk Seri Panglima Dr Jeffrey Kitingan and Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) president Datuk Seri Panglima Yong Teck Lee.
He said Jeffrey – now with the ruling Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) government – heads the committee to register undocumented foreigners under the renamed temporary resident pass they had opposed.
Jeffrey had promised to get them registered within a few months in 2021 after announcing a pilot scheme at major plantations.
“It has been more than two years, we have not seen any progress,” said Dr Chong, adding that politicising the issue is not the solution to the problem in Sabah.
He said the migrant problem continues to fester with the population of stateless and undocumented foreigners growing in Sabah.
Dr Chong also suggested establishing a Special State Secretariat overseeing immigrant management and added that those who were issued Malaysian identity cards illegally in the 1990s be issued permanent resident status.
He then said that their children should be accepted as Malaysians.
He added, “It is unfair to their children or grandchildren, who grew up as Sabahans and Malaysians.”
This is Dr Chong’s second book on Sabah’s abnormal population growth and issues with phantom voters.
The 80-year-old doctor had a passionate interest in the migrant problem when he was involved in politics in the 1990s, as he saw first-hand the use of illegal immigrants as “phantom” voters for politics.
