IMM13 to regulate illegals
Published on: Monday, June 15, 2020
By: Sherell Jeffrey
.jpg "IMM13 to regulate illegals")
Kota Kinabalu: The Federal Government is taking a fresh look at resolving Sabah’s long-standing and complex illegal immigrant and stateless problem by introducing new strategies, said Home Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainuddin (pic).He said among the strategies is to try to get as many of them to be registered as foreigners and to implement a standard document for them.
ADVERTISEMENT
“At present, these migrants possess the IMM13, Kad Burung-Burung and Census Certificate. There is no need to introduce a new type of document to replace the existing ones as this would only confuse the public further.
“We are looking at the IMM13. We need to look at only one form of document as it is much easier, not so confusing and something we can easily explain to the people,” he told reporters at the Menggatal Temporary Detention Centre for illegal immigrants, here, Sunday.
IMM13 is one of the documents issued to citizens of the Philippines with refugee status, in addition to other documents such as the Census Certificate issued during the Federal Special Task Force legalisation programme and the Kad Burung-Burung programme of the 1970s to the 1990s.
Hamzah, who is in Sabah for a three-day visit, said this is also part of the Federal Government’s strategy to resolve the long-standing stateless and refugee issue in the State.
ADVERTISEMENT
“There shouldn’t be any more new card. A census was carried out from 1990 to 1991 by the National Security Council to ensure all foreigners are registered.
“Then we feel why must we have so many documents? We want to correct this and make sure only one card is used while the rest are abolished.
ADVERTISEMENT
“That should be the way. We want to know that they are foreigners so that we can call their embassies and say ‘these are you people, get them the proper documents’,” he said.
Previously, the Home Ministry, under the Pakatan Harapan federal government, had proposed the standardisation of papers for migrant groups and proposed the introduction of the Temporary Sabah Pass.
However, this idea was abandoned following opposition from various politicians.
“If they can have proper documents from their respective countries, they can work in our country but with a foreigner status, similar to registered foreign workers.
“It is like Malaysians entering Singapore to work…no more foreigners who think they are Malaysian citizens, we do not want that,” said Hamzah, while noting that there are currently an estimated 136,055 foreigners with the IMM13, Kad Burung-Burung and Census Certificate in the State.
“We will call them up and collaborate with respective embassies to make sure they issue proper documents so that their people have passports. We want to make sure they come here as foreigners.
“Now, it is difficult to differentiate between citizens and non-citizens.”
When asked how the Ministry intends to do that in view of the lukewarm response from the Philippines, Hamzah said:
“You can ask me that kind of question, but the thing is we have to resolve their problem first in this country, then we will resolve later with the country involved.
“Why must you talk about that first when we can’t even say to them that “Ya, they are your people” ...how do I talk to Manila for that matter if I don’t have any documents to prove that they are from the Philippines?
“So we have to resolve that problem before I can talk to the other countries,” he said.
On resolving issues surrounding children of these document holders, Hamzah said: “Let us resolve the 136,055 first. Later on, we go for the second strategy to address those related.”
On how long foreigners are detained in the Temporary Detention Centres before their deportation, he said some are there for a day, some a month and some eight months.
On what’s the reason for keeping some for eight months, he said: “There are perhaps one or three people who have been held for eight months. Some of those detained are not only without documents but also with criminal issues.”
On whether Sabah’s Temporary Detention Centres are sufficient to accommodate all the detainees, he said, “If possible, we would like to empty all the detention centres and deport all of them.”
“But because of the issues which I have said earlier, discussions which we need to have with the countries involved. Some come from the Philippines, some from Indonesia. There are also some from Pakistan, China, etc, all this we need to have discussions.
“Thus, to accommodate all, we need to have a strategy to ensure we are capable of detaining and putting them in the detention centres,” he said.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
Daily Express Malaysia
.jpg)
