Azis' statement was meant to put Kitingan in bad light
KOTA KINABALU, Dec 17, 2019:
The Warisan-Pakatan Harapan Government is fabricating information to purposely put former Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan in bad light.
Deputy Home Minister Datuk Azis Jamman had accused Pairin of being involved in the decision to issue a temporary pass for illegal foreigners, adding it was part of recommendations under the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on the large presence of illegal immigrants in Sabah.
"He (Pairin) is right to say that the controversial Sabah temporary Pass ( PSS) idea never came from the RCI. There is nowhere in the RCI report, or recommendations, that mention giving residents pass to foreigners," stressed Parti Bersatu Sabah Vice President Datuk Daniel Kinsik.
He noted that the key recommendations were to deport illegal immigrants to their respective countries of origin and to issue a new Identification Card (IC) for genuine and original Sabahans as part of the effort to weed out undocumented illegals and fake IC holders.
"We believe these are more important than giving passes to foreigners, which can be translated to legalising their presence in the state," he said.
Responding to Azis' recent statement, Kinsik said that if indeed there was a proposal by the National Registration Department to the Technical Committee, not the RCI proper, chaired by Kitingan to implement a Residents Pass as alleged, it was only an idea which was forwarded to the main Joint Committee for decision, of which the former PBS President was not a party to.
The Joint Committee was then chaired by the then Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and former Sabah Chief Minister Tan Sri Musa Aman.
Further, the NRD's proposal was void of details, implementation process and mechanisms.
Kinsik further added that the final decision was not decided by the Joint Committee of the previous Barisan Nasional Government, and was later made to understand that the matter was never brought to the BN Federal Cabinet then for a decision.
"Hence, it was the Warisan-PH government that crafted and approved the PSS. It is therefore wrong and misleading to say it was the RCI recommendation when it had finished its term and there was no mention of such scheme in the report on such recommendation.
"We urged Azis to stop twisting facts and find baseless justifications for its suspicious and dangerous PSS. We urge Sabahans to reject the PSS for it render our one and only Sabah to be land of illegal immigrants," Kinsik concluded.