PBS vice-president Johnny Mositun said Warisan treasurer general Terence Siambun should explain as he was critical of PBS over the issue.
“We have always been vocal on this issue when we were in the opposition and also when we were in government,” Mositun said after officiating the PBS division’s annual general meeting here today.
“That the issue has not been resolved is not for our lack of effort but because the power lies with the federal government.”
On Monday, Siambun had said that the number of illegal immigrants, which numbered about 100,000 during PBS’ administration in the 1990s, must have increased in the past 30 years, and accused PBS of not lifting a finger to resolve the problem.
Dismissing Siambun’s criticism of PBS as “childish”, Mositun said issuing the temporary pass was not the same thing as a Sabah IC that Sabahans had been led to hope for in the 14th general election.
“The Warisan-PH government knows it does not have the legal authority or power to issue a Sabah IC, so now it is coming up with this idea of PSS to give people a false impression to deflect criticism,” he said.
Mositun also wanted to know how the government had come up with the figure of 600,000 temporary passes to be issued.
He said National Registration Department records showed that as of last year, there were only 244,259 Sabah inland foreigners (SILF) of various categories, including IMM13 holders who numbered 99,033.
“If, as the home minister said, the PSS was to replace the documents that SILF in Sabah are currently holding, why is the state government planning to issue 600,000 PSS?
“Who are the uncategorised or unrecorded 355,741 foreigners in Sabah that will be issued with PSS? Illegal Immigrants?” he asked.
He said it was absurd to give foreigners a three-year pass when even citizens from other states were given a one-year visit pass that had to be renewed annually.
“(A sum of) RM120 is proposed for the issuance of each PSS. That is not exorbitant, and if it goes directly to the NRD or Immigration Department, it is all right. But what if, as rumoured, the process is sourced out?
“Will Sabah see a scandal like the alleged recruitment of Bangladesh nationals in Peninsular Malaysia? Only here in Sabah, it will be Filipinos and Indonesians,” he said.
Mositun said it was also puzzling how issuing 600,000 temporary passes to foreigners would see a drop in their numbers.
He asked if the government would claim there were no more illegals since all would be documented after June next year.