RP urged to help OFWs facing deportation in EU, Sabah
By Jerome Aning
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 17:42:00 07/01/2008
MANILA, Philippines -- Groups representing overseas Filipino workers urged the government on Tuesday to prepare for mass deportations of undocumented Filipinos from Europe and Sabah, Malaysia, which have been planning massive crackdowns against illegal migrants.
Migrante International called the looming mass deportations "a disaster in the making" for the Arroyo administration as it urged the government to intervene diplomatically on behalf of more than 100,000 undocumented workers in Europe and almost 500,000 in Sabah.
The Blas F. Ople Policy Center, meanwhile, appealed to Malaysian authorities to ensure humane treatment of thousands of undocumented foreign workers to be deported from Sabah.
The center's founder, Susan Ople, and Migrante's chair Connie Bragas-Regalado asked the Philippine government to launch diplomatic initiatives and prepare a contingency plan for Filipinos who would be deported.
"The impending deportations are, without a shred of doubt, inhumane. It would be criminal for the Arroyo administration to ignore this urgent matter," Migrante chair Connie Bragas-Regalado told reporters, adding that the host countries could be persuaded to keep the OFWs.
"The best thing the Arroyo administration can do for the thousands of OFWs who face deportation abroad is to push for their regularization [in their jobs], since they contribute heavily, not only to the Philippine economy, but also to their host countries," Regalado suggested.
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Re: Project IC or Project M sidelined as usual
by kgbambangan » Fri Jul 04, 2008 6:26 pm
Sepilok wrote:
I have never read one of your books, but there are some reliable sources on Projek IC.
So assuming there is 1/2 million parachuted "Bumi" in Sabah, what do you propose to do with them?
Revoke their ICs?
If so, how do you prevent Sabah becoming a international pariah i.e. you can't displace this many people without the rest of the world getting pissed off. You would have the OIC, UN, most human right groups etc. jumping down your throat.
A parachuted “Bumi” would also have a fairly strong case in an international court against the Malaysian government if their citizenship was revoked, as it was supposedly under the orders of a previous Malaysian government that they obtained citizenship.
So basically Sabah is screwed either way.
I agree that, a mass displacement of immigrants would provoke international outcry. But retracting the ICs issued under the IC Project IC and deneutralizing these parachuted "bumis" is a different matter altogether.
This should be the authorithy's first priority. Take back the citizenships granted under the IC Project. If the ICs are too hard to trace and the list held by Dr Jeffrey K is deemed unreliable, then withdraw ALL the citizenships and PR granted to foreigners in the period between 1988-2000 and force re-application. Those who were legally eligible then would be equally eligible for PR and citizenship now.
After that conduct a new survey to determine the numbers of immigrants. To avoid international outcry and possible sanctions, let them have their say and consider their proposals for possible solutions. In no way these foreigners should be given PR status or citizenship. We could still however live with the fact that many of them would remain in Sabah with working passes and with strict condition that they abide the law of the country.
To have too many foreigners in the neighbourhood is depressing but knowing that they were accorded citizenship because of greater political agendas is much more devastating. That's the main problem.
http://www.sabahforum.com/forum/sabah-malaysia-international-politics/topic5514.html
To my understanding the "Citizenships" granted during project IC - were not issued to foreigners, but to supposed Bumis i.e. The people that applied didn't apply as foreigners, but pretended to be Bumis that hadn't had their birth registered. The foreigner usually claims a home birth in some Kampung Ulu Ulu – where it was impossible to register with JPN. I gather that some of these applications were supported by YBs, Ketua Kampungs etc.
Another method is via Bumi Birth Certs - here the foreigner purchases a birth cert of a deceased Bumis - usually of a child that died young and then with the help of the family, they apply for their IC (late registration). This second method only covers a small number of people.
So how are you going to separate – the true citizens from the false?
Another problem is what to do with their offspring? If you tarik balik – their parents citizenship, then they become stateless. They would have Malaysian Birth Certs, but not be citizens of Malaysia, nor would they be citizens of the Philippines. These are hard to deal with as you can’t deport them (no country claims them as citizens) and they can’t get passports and normalise their stay in Malaysia (i.e. to get a work pass you need a passport, which requires citizenship).
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WARNING: Illegals can take over Sabah
Tony Thien
Aug 1, 06
7:30pm
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A well-known political and social activist has warned of the real possibility of Sabah being subject to a reverse take-over by foreigners unless there is greater resolve and determination by the federal government to tackle the problems created by the presence of thousands of illegal immigrants in the state.
