Media statement by Lim Kit Siang in Petaling Jaya on Wednesday, 21^st July 2010: 

Make public the specific proposals made by the Sabah Chief Minister's Department Laboratory on the Management of Illegal Immigrants in Sabah

New Straits Times today front-paged its exclusive story of 55 proposals by various government agencies in a laboratory to combat terrorism and reduce the high number of illegal immigrants in the country.

These 55 proposals are to tabled at the Cabinet Committee on Foreign Workers chaired by the Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin when it meets on August 2.

What has happened to the earlier Laboratory on the Management of Illegal Immigrants in Sabah formed under the Sabah Chief Minister's Department a few months ago, which is to come up with a new strategy and specific proposals to end the long-standing problem of illegal immigrants in Sabah?

Sabah faces the worst problem of influx of illegal immigrants, causing the state's population to explode from some 400,000 during the formation of Malaysia in 1963 to three to four million today - with over half of the population believed to be foreigners.

Various Cabinet Committees to resolve the Illegal Immigrant problem in Sabah together with their respective deadlines have come and gone but the problem of illegal immigrants in Sabah have only got worse.

The promise by one Prime Minister after another to resolve the illegal immigrant problem in Sabah have also come and gone, but no one can see any solution in sight.

Is the problem of illegal immigrants in Sabah coming under the wing of Muhyiddin's Cabinet Committee on Foreign Workers or is it treated separately like the Sabah Chief Minister’s Laboratory on the Management of Illegal Immigrants.

Sabahans and Malaysians are entitled to clear answers.

In the meanwhile, the proposals for resolving the problem made by the Sabah Chief Minister's Department Laboratory on the Management of Illegal Immigrants should make public for discussion and consultation.

*Lim Kit Siang, DAP Parliamentary Leader & MP for Ipoh Timor