More detention centres mean no solution: Suhakam

Kota Kinabalu: Building more temporary detention centres will not solve the illegal immigrant problem, as clearly indicated by past experience, but only aggravate it, said Suhakam Vice Chairman Tan Sri Simon Sipaun.

"Detention centres were constructed in the past but the problem became bigger and more complicated. Instead what is temporary became permanent," he pointed out in his address at a Dialogue on Civil and Political Rights organised by Suhakam at Le Meridien Hotel, Thursday.

He said the issue of illegal immigrants which "has made Sabah famous for the wrong reasons " and "referred to as the mother of all problems here" is quickly changing the economic, social, cultural, civil and political landscape of the State.

Sabahans had been voicing their concern on the issue but it appears to have fallen on deaf ears.

"This being the case, the process of reverse takeover has well begun and gaining momentum. This problem first arose during the late sixties and early seventies.

"Unfortunately it has transformed from a relatively manageable problem to the present mammoth one due to what is perceived as a deliberate neglect by relevant government authorities and agencies."

He said this explains why there is popular demand for the setting up of a Royal Commission of Inquiry to look into the matter. "I believe the idea is to get to the bottom of things and to ascertain once and for all the true state of affairs. After all there is nothing to fear if nobody did anything wrong deliberately."

He said it couldn't be denied that the presence of illegal immigrants is felt throughout Sabah.

"There is no place that Suhakam had visited in which no complainant complained about social problems associated with illegal immigrants.

"Admittedly nobody including the government knows the precise number of illegal immigrants in Sabah. This is not surprising since the number is always changing and most probably in an upward trend.

"My own guess is that they could have outnumbered Malaysians of Sabah origin. This guess is based on certain indicators."

Sipaun asserted it was only fair and reasonable therefore that the illegal immigrant issue being a national burden should be equally shared among all the states in Malaysia.

"National leaders who have supported their presence in Sabah and have claimed that they posed no problem could have as many of them as possible to be settled in their respective constituencies. Such a move will indicate and prove their sincerity beyond doubt."

He acknowledged that the illegal immigrants, as human beings have as much rights as Malaysian citizens.

"Their rights must be respected. Human rights have no borders. But this does not mean that they can walk in and out of Sabah and break the country's laws," he stressed.