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| PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail's proposal to offer PR status to illegal immigrants if Pakatan comes to power has angered her own party members. |
TUARAN: The PKR proposal to give permanent residence (PR) status to some illegal immigrants from Indonesia and the Southern Philippines in Sabah, had drawn the ire of leaders within the party itself.
Gaibin Ransoi, deputy head of PKR division in Tuaran, which is headed by Ansari Abdullah, is among those protesting the proposal.
Describing the proposal as “unacceptable and illogical”, Gaibin said: “As far as I am concerned, the idea of giving PR to illegal immigrants is crazy. I am totally against it.”
He was commenting on a controversial suggestion mooted by PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail at the PKR convention in Kinarut on March 12, in which she pledged that if PKR comes to power it will give PR to illegal immigrants in Sabah.
Gaibin, who won his post in last year’s party elections, said that he and many others in PKR were disappointed with the plan.
“I don’t agree. A Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on illegal immigrants, (if it is set up), should be making such a recommendation (giving PR status), and not PKR.
“Any decision to give PR should be first discussed in a meeting of Pakatan Rakyat, and shouldn’t be arbitrarily decided by PKR alone,” he said.
Gaibin added that he is in PKR to fight for social justice and to defend the rights of the people of Sabah.
“I am not in PKR to help these illegal immigrants become citizens. To do that means I am going against my conscience and violating the trust of the people,” he said in a statement.
Gaibin is also disappointed that many Kadazandusun leaders in PKR are said to have persuaded Wan Azizah to make the proposal.
“If it is a strategy to win the next general election, then it is wrong, when we think of the future of the people of Sabah,” he said.
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