KOTA KINABALU: The issuance of a Sabah identity card is the best way to resolve the undocumented migrant problem in the state, says Sabah STAR vice-president Kenny Chua.

       Chua, in disputing a proposal by Parti Warisan vice-president Datuk Jaujan Sambakong to use native courts to determine one's citizenship, said the IC was the best way to weed out undocumented foreigners.

       “The problem is that it’s hard to tell who is holding a genuine or false document. All this is because of Projek IC which continues to haunt and hurt us. It has changed the demographics of our beloved state.

       “So what choice do we have other than wanting to issue our own state IC to Sabahans? And it is important that the issuing agency must be under the Sabah government,” he said in a statement on Monday (April 11).

       “How could Jaujan say the proposed Sabah IC is not the solution? Of course, the native courts can play their role. In fact, it would be better for all our systems and institutions to be working as a unit so that we can cross-check every single application (for citizenship),” he added.

       He argued that the process to determine the origin of an applicant by the native court may take a long time and could be abused.

       “I (would like to) ask Jaujan how someone who originates from Pakistan could be holding a Malaysian IC. Did a community leader declare that he was born in a certain village to a certain local family?” asked Chua.

       He said it was actually not difficult to tell Sabahans from foreigners if the system was transparent and free of political interference.

       “And who knows, more than a third of the people in Sabah only arrived in the state some years ago. Unlike us, they don’t have ancestors we can trace three or four generations back.

       "And these newcomers later gave birth to children who are stateless and these children, who are adults now, continue to have children of their own. It has become a generational mess,” he said.

       At last month's state assembly sitting, Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor said the issuance of identity cards was under the purview of the Federal Government and as such, Sabah could not take on the function.

       However, he said the state Cabinet would discuss it after Sabah Progressive Party president Datuk Seri Yong Teck Lee asked assemblymen to consider the issuance of Sabah ICs to resolve migrant problems.

       Chua said Jaujan's opposition to the Sabah IC was contradictory to that of his own party deputy president Datuk Darell Leiking, who supported the idea.