Pairin receives letter of appointment
Published on: Wednesday, February 11, 2015
Kota Kinabalu: After a two-month wait, Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan finally received the official letter to head the "Technical Committee of Foreign Migrant Management". The letter signed by the Prime Minister confirmed Pairin's role as the chairman of the committee that was widely known previously as the "Working Committee on Illegal Immigrants". The letter was handed personally by Home Minister Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi on Tuesday, who was here to attend the Main Committee on the Management of Foreigners in Sabah with the Chief Minister. ADVERTISEMENT
"Although the name of the committee was different as widely published in the media, it makes it sound a bit more technical," said Pairin.The appointment letter included five terms of reference and also its 16-men committee composed of a joint secretariat and 13 high-ranking officials from various departments. Despite the late coming, Pairin scrambled to work after accepting the chairmanship on Dec. 25, last year, with the first meeting held on Jan. 8, towards the formulation of a RCI Working Committee Report (or maybe, Technical Committee on Management of Foreigners in Sabah Report).The report will include efforts to beef-up recommendations laid out in the RCI Report that was released in Dec 2014, and also formulation of new measures to further improve efforts to resolve the illegal immigrant issue in Sabah.
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New measures referred to the gathering of input from the public, non-governmental organisations and all political bodies, as well as historical facts and other opinions of senior citizens. Although, "not one is yet to come forward with their ideas or suggestions", Pairin said news extracts and newspaper reports involving the committee's scope of work, are currently compiled ahead of the committee's meeting set for Feb 17.
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Still, Pairin said ideas from all quarters are welcomed and accepted by the committee in "good faith" to be discussed at length during the committee meetings until the technical report is completed. The draft, he said is vital to further "crystalise" efforts to tackle the foreign migrant problem in Sabah that covers various groups such as refugees, illegal immigrants, undocumented non-citizens, foreigners with passports or work pass and those without papers at all. Pairin also took time to explain several notable recommendations such as the proposal of the re-registration of Sabahans and followed by the re-issuance of a special Sabah identity card. "This is important to identify locals, so the matter can become clearer for us to distinguish the target group we want to tackle – the illegal immigrants," he said. Others include the use of advance technology to curb illegal entries, the centralisation of detention centres as opposed to several centres at present which will boost the repatriation process and the use of international law to return stateless children whose parents may come from a neighbouring nation. Pairin said all these will be discussed in the technical committee to form a plan of action in the future to resolve the illegal immigrant problem in Sabah. TECHNICAL COMMITTEE OF FOREIGN MIGRANT MANAGEMENT Term of reference: Study the findings of the Royal Commission of Inquiry on Illegal Immigrants in Sabah and submit proposals for improvement. Review the present execution of management of foreign migrants in Sabah. Gather inputs from Sabah communities on improvement of Sabah's foreign migrant management.Submit suggestions on the present status of foreign migrants in Sabah based on the rule of law and regulations Propose a plan of action towards the management of foreign migrants in Sabah. 16-men committee members CHAIRMAN Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan Joint Secretariat State Secretary Sabah Federal Secretary Committee members Home Ministry Deputy Director General (Operations) National Registration Department Director General Immigration Department Director-General Home Ministry Legal Advisor State Attorney General Senior State Federal Senior Lawyer State Police Chief State National Security Council SecretaryState National Registration Director State Immigration DirectorEastern Sabah Security Command Public Director Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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