KIMANIS POLLS | Sabah Chief Minister Shafie Apdal disagrees with the protest that will be held to oppose the implementation of the Sabah Temporary Pass (PSS) three days before the Jan 18 Kimanis by-election.
"This is not the proper way of doing things. This is a culture we should not follow," he told the media when campaigning at Sinuka in Kimanis.
"I can mobilise a protest too and I think more people will come and support. But it serves no meaning at all.
"This is a by-election where people will voice their opinion (through the ballot box)," added Shafie.
A demonstration that will be held during the election campaign can destroy the poll, he said.
The protest, dubbed “Solidarity Gathering to Reject PSS” will be organised by NGOs Sabah People’s Education Improvement Organisation (Pipa) and Solidariti Rakyat Sabah (Sorak).
Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku (Star) president Jeffrey Kitingan, Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) president Yong Teck Lee and former Kimanis MP Anifah Aman are expected to join the protest on Jan 15, Free Malaysia Today reported today.
About half of the Membakut district falls under the parliamentary seat of Kimanis.
The protest is being organised following requests from the local communities, Sorak chairperson Jamain Sarudin said.
Protesters will be clad in black shirts and gather at 9.30am on Jan 15.
“The implementation of the PSS is opposed by various organisations and individuals as it will only worsen the migrant problem in Sabah, not resolve it.
“The federal government should focus on strengthening the immigration laws and not come up with a permit for the migrants to continue staying in Sabah,” Jamain said.
The PSS, he said, would encourage foreigners, especially those from the southern Philippines, to enter the state illegally.
A heated election topic
PSS will be issued to replace the IMM13, Kad Burung-Burung and Census certificate, which are now held by a total of 136,055 migrants in Sabah.
The PSS will be issued from June 1 and it is renewable every three years, at a fee of RM120.
It has become the heated topic harped on by the BN and Umno in the Kimanis by-election campaigns in the semi-urban constituency.
This by-election is seeing a face-off between BN's Mohamad Alamin and Warisan's Karim Bujang.
Both candidates had previously served as a state assemblyperson in Bongawan, which falls under the Kimanis constituency.
Karim, 67 was a five-term Bongawan state lawmaker under the Usno and Umno platforms, from 1990 to 2013. He joined Warisan last year.
Anifah won the Kimanis parliamentary seat with a slim majority of 156 votes in the 14th general election. The Federal Court subsequently upheld the Aug 16, 2019, ruling of the Election Court that declared the victory of Anifah null and void.
Mohamad, who is fondly known as Toh Moh, is a 48-year-old Kota Kinabalu-based lawyer.
He succeeded Karim as the Bongawan state assemblyperson in 2013 but failed to retain his seat in the 2018 general election.
Kimanis is a semi-urban seat having 29,644 registered voters, with 63.16 percent of them being Muslim bumiputera, while 30.67 percent are non-Muslim bumiputra, 3.59 percent Chinese and 2.58 percent others.