Sook assemblyman Ellron Angin said many of the markets already “feel like small Filipino towns”, which the people find “uneasy” to visit.

“Now if you go to the markets like in Semporna and Lahad Datu, it feels like you are already in the Philippines. The language they speak and their actions are usually hostile.

“The markets are dirty and their children can be seen playing on the streets. Some patronise the drug dens.

“This is against the mild-mannered, care and respect that Sabahans have for each other,” the Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku (STAR) vice-president said at a Barisan Nasional ceramah at Bongawan Estate last night.

Ellron said Kimanis voters must support BN in the by-election on Saturday to drive home the point that they are against the PSS.

He said a win for Warisan would be a sign of support for the card, which would result in a “flood of migrants”, and Sabahans becoming “refugees” in their own state.

These migrants, he said, would be allowed to work and start businesses and later granted the special rights of the indigenous Sabahans.