Pairin: Sabah alone has more than 500,000 illegals
Sunday, 16 July 2006 (Source: Daily Express)

RANAU: Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) welcomes the announcement by Home Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Radzi Sheikh Ahmad that a major operation will be held to rid the country of the estimated 500,000 illegal immigrants.

However, President Datuk Joseph Pairin Kitingan (pic) said PBS wants the authorities to truly verify the number of illegal immigrants because of the fact that Sabah has more than 500,000.

According to him, PBS was willing to assist all quarters in verifying the illegal immigrant population in the country so that action to address the problem taken by the Federal Government would be more efficient and accurate.

Speaking at the PBS Kundasang division annual meeting Saturday, Pairin who is a Deputy Chief Minister, said the bid to track down the illegals requires cooperation from all component parties of the Barisan Nasional (BN).

Radzi had said the operation would involve enforcement agencies apart from 100,000 Rela members.

Earlier, PBS Kundasang chief, Dr Joachim Gunsalam called for closer cooperation between the BN component parties here to address more issues, quickly and effective.

The division Youth chief, Leef Anwar Milandi said the flooding of illegal immigrants in Sabah had brought about negative implications such as crimes and social problems.

Among those present were State Assembly Deputy Speaker Datuk James Vitalis, Kiulu Assemblyman Datuk Louis Rampas and Umno Ranau deputy chief, Jaimin Samita.