KOTA KINABALU: The number of foreigners who had obtained Malaysian citizenships was higher in Sabah compared to Sarawak due to political and geographical reasons, the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) heard.
Sarawak National Registration Department director Datuk Abu Bakar Mattold the RCI, which was tasked to investigate Sabah’s immigrant problem, that Sarawak had 5,373 foreigners with Malaysian citizenships from 1963 to 2012.
However, Sabah had 66,000 people with the same documents during the same period.
“From my observation, the higher number of foreigners with citizenships in Sabah came about due to political and security reasons.
“Also, Sabah, being located in the northern region of Borneo, is nearer to the Philippines, in addition to the influx of Indonesian immigrants.
“I also think that enforcement was lacking in controlling the arrival of immigrants who later obtained Malaysian citizenship,” he told Conducting Officer Manoj Kurup when asked to explain the wide difference in the numbers of foreigners who obtained their citizenships in the two states during the last 49 years.
Earlier, the inquiry heard that it was not only foreigners, but Malaysians too had contributed to the existence of numerous squatter settlements in the state.
Mohd Amir Izat Abdullah, who is the senior assistant enforcement officer for squatters and special duties unit at Kota Kinabalu City Hall, said census campaigns conducted in areas in the city found that most of the residents there had Malaysian identity cards.
“Since they have the documents, we accepted that they are Malay-sians,” he added.
Mohd Amir said the problems arising from the squatters included issues related to cleanliness while their houses were an eyesore.
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