Shafie said his great grandfather, Panglima Udang, had come to Labuan in 1948 and had been buried in a graveyard in Tawau.
KOTA KINABALU (Apr 25): Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal has threatened legal action against any assemblyman or Member of Parliament who accuse him of being an illegal immigrant.
During the State Assembly sitting question-and-answer session here on Thursday, the opposition leader had inquired Assistant Minister to the Chief Minister, Datuk Nizam Abu Bakar Titingan on when illegal immigrants or PTIs came to Sabah, specifically whether it was during Parti Warisan Sabah’s (Warisan) rule from 2018 to 2020.
Shafie’s query was apparently met with laughter from several assemblymen present in the sitting.
“Don’t laugh about this matter. I am saying this because I don’t want to hear any accusations saying that I am a PTI,” said the Senallang assemblyman.
Shafie, who is of Bajau descent, said his great grandfather, Panglima Udang, had come to Labuan in 1948 and had been buried in a graveyard in Tawau.
“There are three types of PTIs – the first is used as labor in the plantation or construction sectors, the second is those with documents such as IMM13 and Burung-Burung cards, and the third is those (who enter the state) illegally.
“I would like to ask … When did PTIs come to Sabah? Was it since Warisan came into power? And if so, am I a PTI also then?
“This has to be explained. If not, I will summon any assemblymen or Member of Parliament or other parties spreading these baseless allegations,” he said.
Nizam responded he had never accused Warisan for being the cause of the influx of PTIs into Sabah.
“This issue has existed since a long time ago. I myself am of Suluk descent too, and the origins of my ancestors are from there but I am a Malaysian citizen who loves the country and the state.
“We have categories for foreigners. Those who illegally enter the state we will send back, and this is a continuing process.
“As for foreign workers who are working in plantations here – and there are a lot of them – we will register them in the initial phase of our ongoing data digitalisation project on migrants.
“In the following phases of this project, those holding the related documents deemed not worthy of being a Malaysian citizen will also be registered.
“And through Smart Sabah, we will ensure that all foreign workers in Sabah are registered in the system,” said the Apas assemblyman.
Earlier, Nizam said the government had recorded 39,276 migrants including 21,995 foreign workers and 17,282 dependents into the Sabah Workers Integrated Management System (S.W.I.M.S) through a data digitalisation outreach programme which aims to register foreigners in Sabah by extracting their personal information, facial recognition and biometrics.
He said this data collection initiative had commenced in September 2022, with its initial phase focusing on the plantation and construction sectors considering these two industries have the highest number of foreigners and have active labor demand in the 3D (Dirty, Difficult and Dangerous) categories.
He said the programme is guided by the Immigration Act 1959/63 and Immigration Regulations 1963, with five plantation companies involved in this project so far, namely Kinabalu Palm Group, Sabah Softwood Berhad, Benta Wawasan Sdn Bhd, FGV Plantations and Cepat Wawasan Group Berhad.
“For illegal immigrants in Sabah, the government will not compromise on security issues as the Sabah Immigration Department and other relevant enforcement agencies continue to carry out arrest and deportation operations against this group,” he said.
He was responding to Kadamaian assemblyman Datuk Ewon Benedick who had asked the current status of the digital data collection project on migrants in Sabah and how many have been registered so far.
Ewon posed an additional question on why the government does not use the existing data on IMM13, census certificate and Burung-Burung card holders for the data collection project considering there are already tens of thousands more existing recorded data on migrants there.
Nizam replied that the project is focused on the plantation and construction sectors only in its initial phase, and it will be expanded to include other sectors in the future such as agriculture because there are a lot of foreigners in the said industries and it will expedite the registration migrants in Sabah as a whole.
“And for information, everything involving migrants in Sabah we will strive to register.
“For the time being, we only want to know the real number of migrants in the state so that we can then carry out suitable actions to overcome the issue,” he said.
Ewon, who is also Cooperatives and Entrepreneur Development Minister, also asked on the government’s plan regarding foreigners working in Sabah without valid documents.
Nizam told him that the government’s objective for implementing the data collection project is to ensure that all foreigners working in the state are legal and are following the laws of the country.
He said S.W.I.M.S. will be a platform for the government to control the number or other factors related to immigrants so that the matter can be better managed.
“I am calling on all members of the Sabah State Assembly, both from the government and opposition sides, to support this data digitalisation project as this problem has been longstanding in our state without any concrete solution.
“Hopefully with our unity and cooperation, we can solve this immigrant issue once and for all as Sabah is our home and we have to take care of it,” he said.
Usukan assemblyman Datuk Seri Salleh Said Keruak also asked Nizam three supplementary questions during the sitting.
First, whether any fees will be incurred by the companies for their workers involved in the data collection project since the government had appointed a government-linked company (GLC) to implement the programme.
Second, how much has the government spent or what is the amount of funding allocated to carry out this project through the appointed GLC.
Third, whether there is any power overlap between the state and federal governments regarding the registration of foreign workers here.
“This project does require fees but I do not have the exact data at the moment so I will give a written reply, same on the funding amount.
“And according to information I have, this project is fully supported by the federal government,” replied Nizam.
