DESPITE huge allocations given to agencies to deal with the illegal immigrants problems in Sabah, they have still failed “miserably”, a Sabah MP said today. 

PBS acting president-cum-Kota Marudu MP Maximus Ongkili said the agencies could have done better had they stationed their men strategically, such as during recent public events with the chief minister where thousands of illegal immigrants could be seen. 

Ongkili said despite enforcement and action by the Immigration Department, Eastern Sabah Security Command, Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency, National Security Council, Civil Defence Department and the police, only 38,808 illegal immigrants had been detained in the past three years. 

“Considering that the number of illegal immigrants in Sabah is estimated to be at least one million, the Immigration Department’s achievement is mediocre. 

“What is 30,000 arrested within the last three years? Where are the rest?

“These figures reflect a hopelessly miserable achievement by our enforcement agencies, despite getting the huge financial and manpower resources allocated to these agencies,” he said in response to a written answer given by the Home Ministry in Parliament today. 

Home Ministry figures showed that 38,808 illegal immigrants were arrested by the Immigration Department between 2015 and October 4 this year over various offences. 

The annual figures of illegal immigrants arrested over the last four years are 19,055 (2015), 8,193 (2016), 5,091 (2017) and, as of October 4 this year, 3,738 illegal immigrants.

Ongkili said it comes as no surprise that such immigrants still roamed around freely in Sabah, including in small towns in interior divisions, daring even to attend gatherings with the chief minister during meet the rakyat sessions held in several Sabah towns recently. 

Ongkili said the authorities could arrest “hundreds, if not thousands” of illegal immigrants if they were stationed at such events. 

“They even bravely stormed the National Registration Office’s headquarters in Kota Kinabalu recently,” said Ongkili, referring to a rush to the department’s special unit office last Thursday. 

Ongkili also refuted the government’s clarification that no citizenships had been given then, saying thousands of immigrants did manage to get registered. – October 18, 2018.