GRS enlists grassroots to tackle illegal immigration

KOTA KINABALU: Grassroots leaders must cooperate fully with security forces planning a major operation to weed out illegal immigrants in settlements across the state.

Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) information chief Datuk Joniston Bangkuai said it was the duty of every citizen to ensure Sabah is rid of outsiders who have no legitimate grounds for being in the country.

He said both state and federal agencies would be deployed in the mammoth operations.

“Community leaders or even ordinary villagers can play their role by helping authorities locate settlements where the culprits are, where they are wrongfully employed, or even where they are being harboured,” he said.

He said that Covid-19 was no longer an excuse for foreigners not to obtain valid travel documents.

Bangkuai, who is assistant Tourism, Culture and Environment minister, said this in response to the police’s plans for an operation to weed out illegal immigrants hiding in squatter colonies across Sabah.

On Feb 9, state Police Commissioner Datuk Jauteh Dikun said that 538 squatter colonies, many housing illegal immigrants, were identified statewide.

He added that police, with government agency support, were developing an action plan to conduct operations against them.

Bangkuai said the decision to act against illegal immigrants was in line with the state’s policy to put an end to the perennial problems faced by the state.

He said the state government, led by Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor, has placed priority on the detection and deportation of foreigners residing illegally in Sabah.

“The Chief Minister, as the state security council chairman, has advocated the need for a continuous operation to rid Sabah of illegal immigrants,” he said.

Bangkuai said all efforts must be made to ensure those who overstayed, those who violated their work permits, or those without any valid documents are found and sent back to their countries of origin, while punitive action would be taken against locals who harbour them.

According to the Sabah Immigration Department, a total of 8,678 individuals were deported to their countries of origin last year.

Its director, Datuk SH Sitti Saleha Habib Yusoff, said there were also 1,463 operations, with 4,108 people arrested in 2023.