KOTA KINABALU: The Kad Warga Asing (Foreigner Card) is merely a recommendation by the Technical Committee that will be further deliberated by the State Government before a final decision is made, said Chief Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Haji Hajiji Haji Noor.
\n\u201cThe State Management Committee on Foreign Nationals (Jawatankuasa Induk Pengurusan Warga Asing Sabah (JKPWAS-Induk) was established following the RCI recommendation for a joint platform between the State and Federal Government to manage this issue,\u201d he said.
\nThe Chief Minister was adamant that the proposal does not involve giving the foreigners identification cards nor a document to grant them citizenship and that it will have to undergo fine-tuning by taking into account views and inputs from all including political parties, activists and the people.
\nHe said the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) Government is determined to solve the long-standing illegal immigrant issue.
\n\u201cAs a responsible government, the GRS State Government will always be guided by the interest of the people and state in its decision-making.
\n\u201cThe GRS State Government takes note of all the views and inputs from all quarters following the statement by the Home Minister.
\n\u201cIt is better for all not to jump the gun,\u201d he said.
\nHajiji said the Kad Warga Asing (foreigner card) and Kad Pekerja Warga Asing (Foreign Worker Card) have been proposed to be a standard document for all IMM 13, Sijil Banci and the Kad Burung-Burung holders previously issued to Filipino immigrants and all legal foreign workers.
\n\u201cThe proposed Foreign Worker card (Kad Pekerja Warga Asing) will be issued to all foreign workers in the plantation, agriculture and fisheries, manufacturing, construction and domestic helpers sectors amongst others.
\n\u201cWe need to establish a database of foreign workers so that there is a systematic record of their presence in the state, \u201c he stressed.
\n\u201cWe take into account views and inputs from all relevant parties who share a concern on this legacy issue. At the state level, I will chair the State Security Committee (JKKNS) whilst the State Secretary will head the working committee,\u201d he said.
\nThe key JKKNS members comprised ESSCOM, Armed Forces, police, Immigration and Registration Departments, the Internal Affairs and Research Office of the Chief Minister\u2019s Department and the National Security Council as joint secretariat.
\nIn this respect, he said the GRS State Government holds steadfast on the principles of transparency in finding a solution to the illegal immigrant issue and ensures that all get accurate information on the matter.
\n\u201cOur stand is all illegal immigrants must be deported and only those who are working legally in the state will be issued with the foreign worker card,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cBackground checks will be done and those with criminal records will face the full brunt of the law,\u201d Hajiji stressed.
\nHajiji said that in line with the government\u2019s efforts to attract more investments to Sabah and among the main criterion would be the availability of a sufficient workforce.
\nHajiji also welcomed the Federal Government\u2019s efforts to jointly deliberate on a way forward to solve the issue<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KOTA KINABALU: The Kad Warga Asing (Foreigner Card) is merely a recommendation by the Technical Committee that will be further deliberated by the State Government before a final decision is made, said Chief Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Haji Hajiji Haji Noor. \u201cThe State Management Committee on Foreign Nationals (Jawatankuasa Induk Pengurusan Warga Asing Sabah (JKPWAS-Induk) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":9477,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-10088","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-local-news"},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jesseltontimes.com\/wpmarch2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10088","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jesseltontimes.com\/wpmarch2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jesseltontimes.com\/wpmarch2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jesseltontimes.com\/wpmarch2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jesseltontimes.com\/wpmarch2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10088"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jesseltontimes.com\/wpmarch2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10088\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10089,"href":"https:\/\/jesseltontimes.com\/wpmarch2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10088\/revisions\/10089"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jesseltontimes.com\/wpmarch2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jesseltontimes.com\/wpmarch2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jesseltontimes.com\/wpmarch2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jesseltontimes.com\/wpmarch2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}