Kota Kinabalu: The Foreign Workers Employers Association (Pemaba) Sabah branch urged urgent government action to address Sabah’s stateless population, backing proposals for the issuance of MyKAS cards as a structured solution to long-standing documentation issues.
Its Chairman Jafery Jomion said the matter required decisive intervention, arguing that delayed action would further worsen social and administrative pressures linked to undocumented communities in the State.
“Stateless individuals should not be left without formal identity despite long-term residence in Sabah, adding that proper registration was essential for security monitoring and administrative control,” he said in a statement.
Jafery said the issue was rooted in historical and political developments involving state and federal administrations in the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s.
“Responsibility to resolve the issue should be addressed comprehensively by those with knowledge of its origins,” Jafery said.
He said existing policy statements by Sabah leaders, including on documentation, training and digital registration initiatives, demonstrated the policy direction needed to support a MyKAS or red identity card framework.
Jafery said MyKAS would not confer voting rights but would serve as an official registration mechanism, enabling individuals to be documented and subjected to taxation or levies under government regulations.
“A structured approach would also help strengthen the economy while reducing reliance on undocumented labour, which he claimed could contribute to social issues, crime concerns and financial outflows through remittances,” he said.
He emphasised that employer groups, government agencies and non-governmental organisations already possess labour market data and could assist in channelling stateless individuals into regulated employment sectors.
Jafery said Pemaba does not support undocumented migration, overstaying or criminal activity, stressing that enforcement of the principle that “no one is above the law” must remain firm.
He warned that failure to resolve the issue decisively would compound existing pressures, likening it to infrastructure congestion that worsens without expansion or intervention.
