KOTA KINABALU – Datuk Seri Jeffrey Kitingan should stop looking into the migrant problems in the state and focus on food security and the hike in prices of foods, said Kota Kinabalu MP Chan Foong Hin.
The DAP lawmaker said the Keningau MP should be busy attending to his duties as the state’s agriculture and fisheries minister.
“Jeffrey should not take the lead (on migrants). I think he should deal with another issue – food security and food price hikes.
“It is immediate, urgent, and related to his portfolio he holds – agriculture and fisheries. He is not the National Security Council chairman.
“He had recently proposed the formation of the task force on food security. The one who should lead this task force is none other than him. So it is good for Jeffrey to be clear on his actual job scope,” said Chan in his opening address during a forum on immigrants in Sabah held here tonight.
Jeffrey had earlier snubbed the forum the opposition had invited him to attend and discuss the flood of migrants.
He heads Sabah’s Special Committee on Undocumented Foreign Workers and Foreign Nationals.
Chan also noted that Jeffrey had taken an interest in the carbon trade deal, migrants, and pushing forward with a new Malaysia Agreement to replace the Malaysia Agreement 1963.
He said the work to deal with migrants should be given to the special select committee under the Sabah assembly, which now had the nod from Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor.
“Let us now carry on with our next job to tackle the migrant problem in Sabah,” he said.
Also present at the forum were former Sabah state secretary Tan Sri Simon Sipaun, former Upko president Tan Sri Bernard Dompok, DAP senior leader Lim Kit Siang, Upko president Datuk Seri Wilfred Madius Tangau, and Jannie Lasimbang (Kapayan-DAP). – The Vibes, July 14, 2022
