KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 136,055 Filipino refugees are still recorded to be in Sabah up to now.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Federal Territories), Dr. Zaliha Mustafa, said that out of that number, 51,645 refugees hold IMM13 documents, while 47,518 individuals are holders of the Census Certificate of the Federal Special Task Force in Sabah/Labuan.
“Another 36,892 individuals hold Temporary Identification Receipt documents from the Chief Minister’s Department.
“The total was identified through cross-checking data between the Sabah National Security Council (MKN), the Malaysian Immigration Department (JIM) in Sabah, and the Office of Internal Affairs and Research, Chief Minister’s Office in Sabah,” she said.
Zaliha said this in a written reply to a question from Datuk Seri Panglima Madius Tangau (UPKO-TTuaran) at the Dewan Rakyat Parliament session here on Monday.
In his question, Madius asked the Prime Minister to state the number and future of the presence of Filipino refugees who have been in Sabah since the early 1970s.
According to Zaliha, the Sabah State Government and the Federal Government take the status and future of this group seriously.
“It is translated through the forum of the Sabah State Foreigners Management Committee, which is divided into two, namely the Main Committee and the Technical Committee.
“The Main Committee of the Sabah State Foreigners Management Committee is jointly chaired by the Chief Minister of Sabah and the Minister of Internal Affairs, while at the Technical Committee level, it is chaired by the Deputy Chief Minister of Sabah and the Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs,” she explained.
She said the committee acts as a platform to study and plan the direction of Filipino refugees in the state.
“The committee has recommended that a re-registration be conducted on them, including biometric data collection and photo collection for their current and orderly profile storage.
“This allows their positions and statuses to be re-tracked. The committee also decided that a single identification document be implemented to facilitate the management of Filipino refugees in Sabah in the future,” added Zaliha.
