KOTA KINABALU: Gagasan Rakyat Youth on Monday rejected claims by several Warisan assemblymen that linked the increase in Sabah’s non-citizen population to illegal immigrants, saying the assertions misinterpreted official data from the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM).
In a statement, the party’s youth wing said the term “non-citizens” includes legally documented foreign workers, students, permit holders and dependants, and should not be equated with undocumented migrants.
It said DOSM data showed that documented foreign nationals formed the majority of non-citizens in Sabah, while undocumented migrants accounted for only a small portion of the total.
Gagasan Rakyat Youth said the increase was influenced by post-Covid-19 economic recovery, internal migration to urban centres such as Kota Kinabalu and the implementation of Sabah’s digital foreigner registration exercise, which recorded previously undocumented workers.
The youth wing said issues related to state security and sovereignty should be addressed through accurate data, effective enforcement and responsible policies, rather than political narratives that could mislead the public.
