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Today, Thursday 17th July 2008, I learned two pieces of good news for Sabah. (Please click on the map above for a larger view.)
First, Malaysian deputy prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak announced that the massive crackdown on illegal immigrants in Sabah will start in August.
Speaking after chairing a meeting on the matter in Kuala Lumpur, the national capital, Najib who is also Defence Minister said an estimated 100,000 to 150,000 illegal immigrants are expected to be deported under the exercise.
They would include those without documents and those who have overstayed. The crackdown would be open-ended and continuous.
"This show that the Government has the political will to resolve the issue of illegal immigrants in Sabah.
"We do not want this problem to recur," he said. Among those at the meeting were Sabah political leaders.
He also said that the Cabinet, in its meeting last Friday, had approved RM50 mllion for the purchase of equipment and expenses for the operation to be led by the police with the Sabah State Secretary co-ordinating the move.
The operation would involve multi agencies such as immigration, armed forces, Rela and others.
"Home Ministry has also had bilateral talks with Indonesia and the Philippines on the operation to repatriate illegal immigrants," he said.
Najib also said the Home Ministry would discuss with the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry to handle street children and to have a place to house them.
The operation would start from the west coast of Sabah as a detention transit camp is ready there, he said, adding that the operation would then move to the east coast.
The last crackdown on illegal immigrants in Sabah was in 2001 when Tan Sri Chong Kah Kiat was Chief Minister for 2 years under the now-abolished rotation system.
The 2nd Good News: The Sabah Government has approved some 78,000 hectares of a mangrove forest reserve and a wildlife forest reserve in the Lower Kinabatangan-Segama area for listing as Sabah's first Ramsar site.
Director of the Sabah Forestry Department, Datuk Sam Mannan said the approval was given yesterday at the State Cabinet meeting.
"This classification covers the Trusan Kinabatangan, Kuala Segama-Maruap Forest Reserve and Kulamba Wildlife Forest Reserve which are already existing conservation areas and have been identified as such under the Sabah Development Corridor," he said in a statement Thursday.
Ramsar, an international convention on wetlands, provides the framework for national action and international c0operation for the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources, said Sam.
He said the benefits of the listing would allow Sabah access to international assistance on the research of wetlands and external funding for management activities, and raise further the profile of Sabah's conservation efforts internationally.
My Say: Before today's announcement on Ramsar, other recent noteworthy developments in Sabah's environmental conservation efforts included the proclaimation of Mount Kinabalu as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the classification of the Maliau Basin as a First Class Forest Reserve (meaning it cannot be touched), and declaration of the 'Heart of Borneo' conservation area, a joint-effort with other states on Borneo island including Indonesian Kalimantan. Congratulations Sabah especially to the Chief Minister Datuk Musa Aman as most of these were done during your tenure. Well done, keep it up. Since Alliance-Usno time in the 1960s, followed by Berjaya era in the 1970s, then PBS in the 1980s, Sabah's forests has been 'raped' rampantly again and again. It's about time that someone puts a stop to it.
Welcome to Sikmading's Sabah. Malaysian Borneo - the Land Below The Wind.
First, Malaysian deputy prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak announced that the massive crackdown on illegal immigrants in Sabah will start in August.
Speaking after chairing a meeting on the matter in Kuala Lumpur, the national capital, Najib who is also Defence Minister said an estimated 100,000 to 150,000 illegal immigrants are expected to be deported under the exercise.
They would include those without documents and those who have overstayed. The crackdown would be open-ended and continuous.
"This show that the Government has the political will to resolve the issue of illegal immigrants in Sabah.
"We do not want this problem to recur," he said. Among those at the meeting were Sabah political leaders.
He also said that the Cabinet, in its meeting last Friday, had approved RM50 mllion for the purchase of equipment and expenses for the operation to be led by the police with the Sabah State Secretary co-ordinating the move.
The operation would involve multi agencies such as immigration, armed forces, Rela and others.
"Home Ministry has also had bilateral talks with Indonesia and the Philippines on the operation to repatriate illegal immigrants," he said.
Najib also said the Home Ministry would discuss with the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry to handle street children and to have a place to house them.
The operation would start from the west coast of Sabah as a detention transit camp is ready there, he said, adding that the operation would then move to the east coast.
The last crackdown on illegal immigrants in Sabah was in 2001 when Tan Sri Chong Kah Kiat was Chief Minister for 2 years under the now-abolished rotation system.
The 2nd Good News: The Sabah Government has approved some 78,000 hectares of a mangrove forest reserve and a wildlife forest reserve in the Lower Kinabatangan-Segama area for listing as Sabah's first Ramsar site.
Director of the Sabah Forestry Department, Datuk Sam Mannan said the approval was given yesterday at the State Cabinet meeting.
"This classification covers the Trusan Kinabatangan, Kuala Segama-Maruap Forest Reserve and Kulamba Wildlife Forest Reserve which are already existing conservation areas and have been identified as such under the Sabah Development Corridor," he said in a statement Thursday.
Ramsar, an international convention on wetlands, provides the framework for national action and international c0operation for the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources, said Sam.
He said the benefits of the listing would allow Sabah access to international assistance on the research of wetlands and external funding for management activities, and raise further the profile of Sabah's conservation efforts internationally.
My Say: Before today's announcement on Ramsar, other recent noteworthy developments in Sabah's environmental conservation efforts included the proclaimation of Mount Kinabalu as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the classification of the Maliau Basin as a First Class Forest Reserve (meaning it cannot be touched), and declaration of the 'Heart of Borneo' conservation area, a joint-effort with other states on Borneo island including Indonesian Kalimantan. Congratulations Sabah especially to the Chief Minister Datuk Musa Aman as most of these were done during your tenure. Well done, keep it up. Since Alliance-Usno time in the 1960s, followed by Berjaya era in the 1970s, then PBS in the 1980s, Sabah's forests has been 'raped' rampantly again and again. It's about time that someone puts a stop to it.
Welcome to Sikmading's Sabah. Malaysian Borneo - the Land Below The Wind.
1 comment:
i don't take the first good news (50 million) from najib as good. this is clearly politically motivated. why now? why not 10 years ago? who knows what will happen 10 year ahead. where we will be forgotten again, because they are not having any political pressures as they are now.
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