Its president, Maximus Ongkili, said their lawyers are studying the possibility of filing an injunction against the proposed implementation of the controversial PSS, scheduled for next June.
“In our view, entry into the Bornean states is only possible with the approval of both the Sabah and Sarawak governments.
“The federal government has no unilateral power to make laws and regulations in respect of immigration in the two east Malaysian states without a formal consultation and agreement,” he said.
Speaking during a seminar on economy and agriculture in Sabah’s northern Kota Marudu district today, Ongkili said the Sabah government should adopt the stance of its neighbouring state when dealing with such matters.
In Sarawak, he said, it is not just a matter of obtaining the chief minister’s approval or simply by the chief minister agreeing to implement certain programmes on his own or through the state Cabinet.
“In Sarawak’s case, it must be tabled during their state legislative assembly and a vote must be conducted on the motion. This way, such an important decision would reflect the voices of the people,” said the Kota Marudu MP.
In September, Home Minister Muhyiddin Yassin had announced that the government will embark on a project to replace the “kad burung-burung”, IMM13 refugee cards and census certificates with the PSS from June.
Muhyiddin said the state government would form a special body to carry out the project. Currently, federal authorities estimate that 600,000 people are carrying the three types of documents, out of about 1.1 million foreigners residing in Sabah.
Muhyiddin also said the PSS would help to streamline the monitoring and enforcement process, adding that enforcement bodies such as the Immigration Department were having difficulty enforcing the law because of the various types of documents held by foreigners in the state.
Meanwhile, commenting on the appeal by Musa Aman on his claim as the rightful Sabah chief minister, Ongkili said PBS was disappointed that the Court of Appeal had thrown out the case yesterday. However, the party respected the decision.
He said it was unfortunate that the court had dismissed the appeal by saying it is academic.
Ongkili said Musa was focusing more on the point of law on whether the process of the appointment of Shafie Apdal as the chief minister complied with the state’s constitution.
The Court of Appeal here had yesterday struck out Musa’s appeal against the High Court’s earlier decision to dismiss his claim as the rightful Sabah chief minister.
A three-member bench, comprising Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah, Kamardin Hashim and Rhodzariah Bujang, had allowed a preliminary objection by Douglas Lind, the counsel for Shafie, that the case was academic.