Ongkili : KDs vice activities should not be overblown
Monday, 25 February 2002

KOTA MARUDU: Bandau MP Dr Maximus Ongkili has cautioned against over blowing the problem of young Sabahans’ involvement in vice activities in Peninsular Malaysia, while acknowledging that the problem definitely existed.

Speaking to PBS Tandek Divisional leaders here last Saturday, Ongkili said there were indeed reported cases of Sabahan rural youths including Kadazandusuns involved in vices such as prostitution and other crimes but it would be wrong to allege that those involved were mainly Kadazandusuns.

"To portray that such crimes and unhealthy activities are dominated by youths from the Kadazandusun community is inaccurate and unkind especially when no one really has accurate data on the problem.

We all know that the problem exists and efforts towards resolving it are being taken. But to misrepresent that prostitution and other unhealthy activities in the Peninsula were committed mainly by Kadazandusuns was tantamount to painting a very bad picture of the community," he claimed.

Ongkili who is also PBS deputy president explained that there was no denial that some of the rural youths from Sabah had been influenced and tricked into such activities by irresponsible syndicates and fake employment agencies.

"I for one personally rescued a couple of Kota Marudu girls in Johore early last year by picking them from a relative’s home and put them on the next flight to KK from Senai. Some agents from Singapore who paid the girls’ trip in the pretext of offering work in a coffee shop were searching for them to bring them across the Causeway to Singapore to work as call girls.

"We don’t shout about these things because we know that resolution of the problem requires the cooperation of all parties.

"The parents must be advised of the risks involved in releasing their sons and daughters to take up employment in the Peninsula and to let them go only through registered employment agencies so that their places of work could be monitored," he said.

Ongkili regretted that many rural youths still fell prey to unscrupulous agents even against the advice of parents because of influence by other friends.

"Actually a lot of efforts are being done to reduce the problem. For example, many churches are involved in reaching out to these problematic youths. The Sidang Injil Borneo (SIB) for one has set up 17 branches in various cities and towns in the Peninsula to reach out to the some 30,000 working youths from Sabah.

"In addition the Klang Valley KDCA which has been very active for years has set up a special committee to look into the adjustment problems faced by rural Kadazandusun youths migrating for work in various towns on the mainland," he explained.

According to Ongkili, PBS Assemblymen and MPs had proposed in the past various measures to tackle the problems faced by Sabah youths migrating for work to the Peninsula.

"We have called for the registration of all Sabahan workers in Semenanjung, revamping the Sabah Liaison Office in Kuala Lumpur to handle specific problems faced by the youths, taking stern action on errant employment agencies, and information dissemination to Sabah parents on the pitfalls and perils of working life, including the threats posed crime and vices syndicates," he said.

Ongkili stressed that there was plenty to be done to really solve the problem, adding "we need to put our heads and act together but simply casting a particular community in bad light won’t help to solve the problem."