High Tech ID Proves Sabah IC Workable- Dr. Jeffrey

Kota Kinabalu:    “The Sabah government should implement a high tech, high-security Sabah IC as it is workable to secure Sabah’s sovereignty and weed out fake ICs and MyKads” said Datuk Dr. Jeffrey Kitingan, STAR Sabah Chief responding on the federal government’s launching of the uniform high-security identification card for all government staff in a move to check impersonation and forging of the identification documents of government employees.

The civil servant’s high-tech ID which can be ready in 30 minutes and the recent move by the Home Ministry’s plan to issue 2.5 million i-Kad with biometric security features for foreign workers proves that a high-tech, high security Sabah IC is capable of being used to resolve the long-standing illegal immigrantsproblem in Sabah.

Everyone knows, which even Umno Sabah leaders acknowledge in private, that the Umno-led federal government had a hand in the issuance of dubious ICs and MyKads in Sabah.  This was done to ensure Umno had 32 of the 60 State seats and to ensure winning majorities in other BN-held seats.

The fake ICs and MyKads have even surfaced in the Peninsula with the surfacing of fake Sabahans, foreigners holding fake ICs impersonating as Sabahans.  There is probably thousands and thousands of these fake Sabahans in the Peninsula given that up to 1.5 million dubious ICs could have been issued in Sabah.

The continued refusal of the federal government to tackle the issue of the fake and dubious ICs in Sabah while able to issue high-tech and high security IDs only proves their ulterior motives to keep the phantom voters with ICs on the electoral rolls.   Clearly, they wish to maintain Sabah as their fixed deposit and wish to keep Umno Sabah’s hold on the Sabah government and help maintain the Umno/BN federal government in Putrajaya.

The intentions of the Umno federal government are also clear, to rob and plunder Sabah’s oil wealth and to marginalize and disenfranchise the local natives and the KDM community which has been reduced from being the majority to less than 20% of the population.  It is evil reverse ethnic cleansing in reality.

The local natives are then deprived of job opportunities by non-implementation of the Borneonization with the implementing ofMalayanization and Malaynization policies instead.  The natives are deprived of business and other opportunities while new Sabahan Muslim immigrants are aided under the KetuananMelayu policies which by law has no place in Sabah where the State Constitution provide for natives empowerment.

With the failure of the federal government, the legal and moral duty to protect and safeguard Sabah’s sovereignty and security and to safeguard the rights and interests of genuine Sabahans now rests with the Sabah government.
The Sabah government should initiate steps to implement the high-tech, high security ID for Sabahans and another similar ID for all non-Sabahans resident in Sabah.  From legal sources, the Sabah government has the authority to issue the Sabah IC and there are no prohibitions under the Federal Constitution.

The non-Sabahan Resident ID Card can help weed out fake IC holders and at the same time help prevent manipulation by the federal government from putting these people on the electoral rolls and usurping the political franchise of true Sabahans.   The recent reports of foreign children out-numbering locals in several schools should make all Sabahans wary of this time-bomb.

At the same time, it will give the holders the right to work and stay in Sabah and help contribute to Sabah’s economy without being victimized by rogue elements in the security and immigration authorities.

The implementation of the Sabah IC and non-Sabahan Resident ID for 2 million foreigners in Sabah could contribute RM700 million annually to the State coffers while the one-off capital costs is estimated at RM210 million and annual operating costs of RM130 million.   Financially, it is a viable option.

“The Sabah IC and non-Sabahan Resident ID is the only way to ensure that the security and sovereignty of Sabah and genuine Sabahansare genuinely protected” stressed Dr. Jeffrey.