SAPP stands by its Sabah IC plan

KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) has justified its plan to issue ‘Sabah identity cards’ to bona fide Malaysians in Sabah as the only solution to overcome the illegal distribution of national identity cards to foreigners.

The opposition has insisted there is an urgent need to differentiate Sabahans from the dubious document holders who are on the electoral rolls as voters and have managed to sway past elections in favour of the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition.
SAPP leader Yong Teck Lee said his party plans to wipe out the discrepancy between the will of genuine Malaysians in the state and that of newcomers who have been granted citizenship illegally and forced to vote for those in power for fear of being deported if the opposition forms the next Sabah government.

He said the plan would serve as a check against unqualified foreigners influencing the outcome of any election and the future of the country.

Yong’s plan however came under immediate fire from Umno vice-president Shafie Apdal.

“Why should we? We are a nation already. If (we say) Sabah is for Sabahans and Perlis is for Perlis people, the (nation) won’t go anywhere,” Shafie said.

Yong however stressed that new Sabah IC system would differentiate legitimate citizens of Sabah origin from illegal immigrants who hold Putrajaya-issued identity cards and would be used for all official purposes.

The former Sabah chief minister said the authority (of the state government) to issue identity cards was guaranteed by way of the 20-point Malaysia Agreement of 1963.

He noted that past identity cards have always indicated the place of issuance was Kota Kinabalu or Jesselton as the state capital was known before it joined the Federation of Malaysa, Sarawak and Singapore in forming Malaysia in Sept 16, 1963 unlike now.

Meanwhile SAPP’s tresurer Dullie Marie told a press conference here the party’s plan was to ‘safeguard the genuine Sabahans’.

“This (plan) is to safeguard the identity and rights of genuine Malaysians in Sabah. It must be addressed assiduously with full conviction and political will,” Marie said.

He said the issue of giving dubious identity cards had been going on for decades only to be denied time and time again until the recent establishment of Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) to investigate the matter acknowledged there is credence to the allegations.

Shafie disagrees

The opposition and its supporters are however doubtful that the Umno-controlled federal government is committed to resolving the issue pointing to how Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s administration has dragged its feet on the matter since announcing the RCI earlier this year.

Earlier this week Shafie who is also the Semporna MP cemented their misgiving when he was quoted saying: “We can’t even control the (Filipino militant separatist group) Abu Sayyaf and illegal migrants from entering Sabah, so why (are) we trying to control Malaysia.”

While acknowledging that the 20-point agreement – which, among others, controls the movement of Malaysians from the peninsula to Sabah and Sarawak – he said a new identity card would be counter-productive.

Shafie recounted how in the early 1980s he brought his wife who is from Kedah to Sabah. “I had to join one immigration line for Sabahans and she was in another for people from the peninsula” even though she was his wife.

Marie said that the statement by a federal minister from Sabah was an admission of failure by the federal government to provide security and prevent illegal migrants entering the state.

He said this was confirmed by federal secretary Abu Bakar Hasan who said that out of the 151,849 arrivals in Sabah through the Tawau port in the first eight months of this year only 120,980 had left and 30,869 persons were unaccounted for.

“For the year 2011 at Tawau alone, 217,453 entered but only 165,857 departed, leaving behind a staggering 52,857 immigrants unaccounted for. How about the other years and other ports of entry,” Marie asked.

He said this was the reason Umno top leaders could boast that “Sabah is a fixed deposit for Barisan National”.

The issue is seen as an election game changer given Sabahans’ growing anger over the surrender of the state’s oil wealth and the erosion of state rights including immigration control guaranteed by the 1963 Malaysian Agreement.

“This should not be perceived as disloyalty Datuk Shafie or other leaders,” said Marie.

The new Sabah IC proposal is one of SAPP’s responses to Pakatan Rakyat’s promise to restore Sabah’s autonomy.

SAPP is not an official Pakatan component but the Sabah-based party has an unofficial “working relationship” with the opposition coalition parties which are all headquartered in the peninsula.

38 comments:

  1. With a new identity card for Sabahan only to identify dubious resident....this is not a good plan and much time consuming to process, its not realistic for rural resident, the differential between Malaysian resident and Sabah resident is overlapping. Please generate better ideas. Thanks

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    1. The new IC won't change our lives as well.

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    2. buang duit rakyat saja...

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    3. Betul kata RICKY itu. Buang duit saja cadangan SAPP ini.

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    4. Jika kita lihat sendiri apa yang SAPP buat ini tidak ada manfaat pun kepada penduduk Sabah. Dapat kita fikir sendiri akan perkara ini. Jadi rakyat tidak perlulah terpedaya dengan SAPP ini. Parti yang paling lemah di Sabah.

      bayausbh.blogspot.com

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    5. Candangan yang tidak boleh di pakai.

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    6. SAPP beri cadangan mengarut, berilah cadangan lagi bagus.

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  2. What is the next procedures after implementing new Sabahan IC? How long it takes to ensure all the Sabahan posses the legal resident recognize by SAPP?

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    1. Even some of them did not read the agreement clearly so what the hell of implementing a new IC?

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    2. this is just another empty talk from SAPP...as you all know, this is just a political gimmick by the SAPP.

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  3. why do we want to waste more money to make another ID for Sabahan when the existing one is sufficient enough?

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    1. So meaning to say they are wasting our hard earned money.

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    2. SAPP want to waste rakyat money...

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    3. Kaya mungkin bah dorang ingat Sabahan ni. Alamak tolonglah....

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    4. Cadangan yang hanya menyusahkan rakyat sahaja, bukan untuk menyenangkan rakyat.

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    5. cadangan nk pecah dan asingkan rakyat Malaysia.

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  4. I wondering SAPP wanted to draw attention from Sabahan only,the New IC strategy is not practical at all, how many officer do they need to complete these superfluous, are they aware that their limited ability.

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    1. pasal tu lah ni pemimpin2 SAPP hanya tahu cakap saja...tiada isi...

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  5. YTL harus balik ke sarangya dan jangan kembali.

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  6. i will not surprise that YTL will lose his deposit in the coming GE...

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  7. BN sabah will win...no doubt...

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    1. BN pasti akan jadi pilihan rakyat..janji yang di beri sentiasa di tepati.

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  8. Idea SAPP ni bagus juga tapi banyak karenah lagi. Khuatir juga kalau ia timbulkan masalah lain.

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    Replies
    1. Perlu tahu apa kehendak rakyat juga, bukan main suka-suka sahaja.

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  9. Tapi kalau saya lah kan, daripada buat macam ni bagus lagi bekerjasama tanggani masalah pati daripada sibuk nak pertahankan idea siapa lebih hebat.

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  10. Masalah pati memang perlu diselesaikan segera namun idea ini bagi saya tak praktikal sangat.

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  11. Terpulanglah pada kerajaan nak terima ka tak idea SAPP ni. Kalau bagus ok lah, kalau tak then tak payah pakai.

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  12. there got too many plan but the best is still dont know which one....

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  13. Bukan senang nak buat, perlu buat banyak kajian lagi.. Senang saja cakap.

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  14. tiada nak sokong cadangan SAPP.

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  15. IC khas Sabah tidak akan menyelesaikan masalah pendatang haram dan Projek IC..

    Sabah World Heritage
    Borneo Bullet

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  16. tidak mustahil YTL akan menyalahgunakan IC khas ini untuk kepentingan beliau.. tidak mustahil IC khas ini akan diberikan kepada kroni2 beliau untuk merampas hak2 sabah..

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  17. YTL adalah pemimpin yang sangat2 tidak boleh dipercayai.. ketika beliau menduduki kerusi KM Sabah, banyak hak2 sabah yang telah dirampas oleh beliau.. hari ini dia mahu bagi IC khas pula??

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  18. ketika kerajaan bertungkus lumus menjayakan RCI, dia sibuk pula dengan IC Khas.. kenapa cadangan ini tidak diumumkan sebaik SAPP keluar dari BN??? inilah yang dikatakan perancangan last minute untuk menarik undi..

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  19. rakyat Sabah perlu tolak pemimpin oportunist seperti YTL.. beliau telah pun mengundang bencana kepada negeri ini.. jika hanya dalam masa dua tahun beliau berjaya mencetuskan banyak kerugian kepada negeri Sabah, entah apa akan jadi sekiranya beliau mempunyai masa lebih dari 10 tahun..

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  20. Anwar pun sudah ketepikan Yong dan lebih tumpukan kepada Lajim serta Bumburing. Hahahaha!

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  21. Idea Sapp hanya akan kelirukan rakyat dan tidak mewujudkan kesatuan.

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