KOTA KINABALU – Warisan is sceptical that the federal government will keep its promise to vaccinate Sabah’s illegal immigrants.
Warisan Youth deputy chief Mohd Ismail Ayob said that Home Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin had, prior to this, promised that illegal immigrants in Sabah will be vaccinated.
However, Ismail said Hamzah, in last year’s state election, also promised to deport illegal immigrants from Sabah.
“What happened to Hamzah’s promise to deport illegal immigrants? Illegal immigrants are still an issue, so how can we trust that they will be vaccinated?
“Or is this his way of distracting us from the issue that Sabah is the state with the lowest vaccination rate?” he asked in a statement.
Sabah tops the list in the number of illegal immigrants in the country, with an estimated 400,000 to 500,,000 while Sabah's opposition parties together with Filipino community leaders say that numbers have surpassed one million.
Sabah’s total population now stands at 3.9 million people.
Ismail said that what Perikatan Nasional and Gabungan Rakyat Sabah are doing now is not the same as what had been promised in last year’s state election, when Sabah was treated like the “golden child”.
He said that after the election, the leaders had never visited the interior of Sabah to promote the Covid-19 vaccination programme, like what was done in Peninsular Malaysia.
“They only go to the rural areas during election time, when the people of Sabah need them the most now as it involves their safety and health,” he said, adding that a meagre 5.21% of the population in Sabah has been vaccinated.
Meanwhile, Ismail also questioned Science, Technology, and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin as to why the AstraZeneca programme has not been extended to the people in Sabah.
“It is very odd that only people in Peninsular Malaysia were given the AstraZeneca vaccine amounting to hundreds of thousands. Why is Sabah not listed as a recipient? It’s like we are the “stepson”, despite being labelled as a “fixed deposit” during the election.
“Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor should explain to the people why the federal government is leaving Sabah behind on this,” he said. –The Vibes, June 5, 2021
