The Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku (STAR) president said the home ministry’s proposal “seemed unacceptable to Sabahans” as there was a need for precision when it came to such identification documents.
He said the terms used for the proposed foreigner card could be misinterpreted.
“Naming it the ‘non-citizen resident card’ would be more acceptable because it would immediately distinguish these cardholders from the rights of genuine citizens,” he said, according to a report by the Daily Express.
Jeffrey said the state government was contemplating issuing a Sabah IC to Sabahans, with state leaders and enforcement authorities working closely on the matter.
“This card will help in the identification of genuine Sabahans from non-Sabahans. It is simple to complete because it is only administrative in nature.
“I agree with home minister Hamzah Zainudin that we need the political will to resolve our problem, particularly involving inland foreigners.
“We are doing our best to resolve this according to our own abilities, and we hope Putrajaya has the political will to support Sabah’s aspiration,” he said.
On May 15, Hamzah said Sabah’s undocumented migrant issue could be solved by issuing foreigner cards, but the Sabah government would have to approve this.
The issue of undocumented migrants was a “time bomb” that could trigger more social problems, he reportedly said, adding that the foreigner card was not equal to permanent residency or citizenship.
Hamzah also said the foreigner card would help in overcoming the lack of manpower in various industries and allow enforcement agencies to weed out criminal elements among undocumented migrants.
Last month, former Sabah chief minister Yong Teck Lee pushed for the state government to consider implementing the Sabah IC as a way forward to safeguard Sabahans’ citizenship status.
Yong told the state assembly that issuing Sabah ICs would kickstart a gradual process to filter out dubious documents issued to foreigners, such as through the infamous Projek IC, and address the state’s perennial undocumented migrants issue.
Projek IC is a term used to describe allegations of systematic granting of citizenship to migrants by giving them identity cards in the 1990s.
Yong said a person can be a Malaysian but would not be officially recognised as a Sabahan until they were granted a Sabah IC after a strict verification process by the state government.