Pairin, stop procrastinating – Zainnal Ajamain

I made this statement in the recent talks held in Kota Kinabalu “during the recent PBS Congress, the Prime Minister already offered Tan Sri Joseph Pairin the means to get this done – but instead of start cracking to establish the necessary mechanism and getting the necessary powers and authority– PBS went to make a Police Report.  They are more interested to get cheap publicity, instead working to seek solutions – They are more interested to carry out a political event rather than making sure a solid process is established.  Tan Sri Pairin must remember, that offer was made NOT to the President of PBS – but to a Deputy Chief Minister of Sabah – because the problem of illegal immigrants is a Sabah problem NOT PBS problem.”

Until today all we get from PBS is the statement by their Kawang Vice Chief II saying that the Working Committee to be chaired by Pairin had yet to be officially set-up, they are waiting for a letter of appointment, the composition of committee and the Terms of Reference have yet to be finalized – in other words the PBS Supreme Council was waiting for the ToR before deciding IF Pairin should take up the post.

What Pairin is doing is to procrastinate, and use Putrajaya’s directives for him as an excuse –why is Pairin waiting for Putrajaya?  This is a Sabah issue as such Pairin is the authority to decide whether there is a letter of appointment or not and whether a Terms of Reference is available or not, it is not for Putrajaya to do his work for him.  An offer was made publicly by the Prime Minister and Pairin, yet, he is still waiting to be told what to do next? Is this the caliber of leadership we have in Sabah? To top it all Pairin is also the Deputy Chief Minister of Sabah.  Perhaps Pairin may not know what is it exactly that he should do next – if this is the case then perhaps I may suggest a few things for Pairin to ponder.

First and foremost, Pairin has been single out in a public function to create a Working Committee on foreigners.  He should not wait for Putrajaya to come up with the Terms of Reference (ToR) but to come up with a ToR and submit it to Putrajaya - himself.  Pairin and PBS of all people should know the issues of foreigners in Sabah very well compared to those in Putrajaya.  The keyword here is be proactive.

Second, Pairin must get the right people to form his Working Committee.  People who understand Sabah history well, its legal systems in relation to the National systems and most important of all, the people he selected must also understand the formation of Malaysia, the Inter-Governmental Committee Report and the Malaysia Agreement 1963.  Unless the people he selected have a proper understanding of these issues, then the committee he selected will not do any justice to Sabah and its 51 years problem.  The reason is because there are so many intertwine social and economic issues and legal issues that must be taken into consideration before any recommendations for solutions are made.

Everyone knows that Immigrants issue is an Immigration nightmare, but the solution is not just simply “arrest and deport”.  The Working Committee should also consider the possibility of parents being arrested and deported – what then will happen to their children? Or a Husband arrested and deported what then will happen to his Sabah wife? That is if he has only one wife – what happen when he has 4 wives and their children?  These were the mistakes we made before, there is no point repeating the same today – there was no holistic approach to resolving the problem, we end up with street children without any parents to look after them.

The we should also ask hard questions as to how many of our own lawmakers were holders of IMM13 papers and how many of our own Law Enforcements officers having 2nd and 3rd wives who are illegal immigrants? How then do you propose to reconcile and resolve these entanglements?

Third, thinking these issues is just an Immigration problem that it should be resolved by the Immigration Act 1959/63 is just myopic and very short sighted.  The legal aspects of it are interrelated and cover a spectrum of statutes.  Do not expect a PBS vice Chief II from Kawang is able to even comprehend the magnitude of legal fur ball that is involved in this exercise.  Among (not exhaustive) others it involves:

1.       The Immigration Act 1959/63

2.      Guardianship of Infants Act 1951

3.      Law Reform (Marriage & Divorce) Act 1976

4.      Employment Act 1955

5.      Industrial Relation Act 1967

6.      Employment (Termination & Lay-off Benefits Regulation) 1980

7.      Employment Provident Fund Act 1991

8.     And the Convention on the Elimination of all form of discrimination against women (Cedaw) or the Cedaw convention adopted by the General Assembly on 19 December 1979 and Malaysia ratified the convention in 1995.

Fourth, Pairin should not just simply appoint just anybody to form his Working Committee.  They must be apolitical but having vast experience and deep understanding about Malaysia specifically Sabah.  The people will not want to see the likes of Datuk Shafie Apdal or the vacillating Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan, we need people who read and understand what they read.

Therefore this job is not just for any law practitioner, law enforcer or any public figures, it requires the service of a long serving a law enforcer, law practitioner, especially a judge who has handle a lot of cases such as these and a public figure of impeccable repute.  There are a few persons that can fit the bill perfectly one of them is The Hon. Datuk Nurchaya binti Haji Arshad Judge of the High Court in Malaya/ Sabah and Sarawak and the other former Deputy Inspector General of Police Tan Sri Mohd Bakri Mohd Zinin.

Establishing this Working Committee who are made up of prominent and credible public figures from Sabah I am confident they would be able to contribute to make this exercise successful and I am certain when Sabah call for them to do their duty – they will respond positively – However for now Pairin must first respond to the National call and stop procrastinating. – December 14, 2014.

*Zainnal Ajamain is an economist by profession and has held several high-ranking positions in civil service and various think tanks.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.

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