KOTA KINABALU – Sabah's plan to digitally register its migrant population has not made any progress, with no significant development since the pilot registration programme involving migrants working in Sawit Kinabalu's plantations was completed in June.
Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Seri Jeffrey Kitingan, who heads the Sabah Special Cabinet Committee on Proposed Foreign Worker and Foreign Resident Cards, has not yet presented the crucial report on the pilot programme to the state cabinet.
This report is expected to help the state to determine whether to expand digital registration across all sectors.
Jeffrey had previously indicated that he would present it in June. It is now almost the end of September.
"We have completed the pilot project and are still waiting to present it to the cabinet so they can make a decision on the next steps,” he said when approached about the issue.
“I will present it in the upcoming cabinet meeting. The delay was due to a key department head involved in the pilot programme who had just returned from performing Hajj."
The pilot programme, initiated by Jeffrey, revealed that approximately half of the 14,855 migrants registered in it did not possess valid documents.
They were mostly dependents to the individuals hired by Sawit Kinabalu to work on its plantation across Sabah.
The digitised registration of migrants was initially unveiled by Jeffrey in March last year. It later gained support from various stakeholders during a town hall session held in June the same year.
The Sabah government decided to carry out the exercise to tackle the long-standing migrant problems in the state.
The plan will likely see passes subsequently issued to the migrants.
This is based on recommendations made by the National Security Council to the Technical Committee on the Royal Commission of Inquiry on Illegal Immigrants in Sabah in 2015.
But Jeffrey has yet to address the matter of digitised registration comprehensively.
The pilot project report was originally scheduled to be presented to the state cabinet on June 14, paving the way for the digital registration programme to be be officially expanded throughout the state.
The digital registration is done using the biometric facial and fingerprint methods, and the exercise will be implemented in the various state economic sectors namely, plantations, industries, construction, services, and eventually, others like squatter settlements.
Only the sea gipsies or the Palauh communities have been singled out as a separate category, said Kitingan, adding that teams were deployed into the various sectors for the registration process.
Jeffrey had earlier announced that the target to finish the whole exercise was December 31.
He also said the purpose of undretaking it was to allow the state to build data first to manage the population of migrants later. This includes foreign workers hired by recruitment companies. – The Vibes, September 29, 2023
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