KUALA LUMPUR: The government will continue to enhance electronic surveillance technology in efforts to prevent illegal immigrants from the Philippines from entering the east coast of Sabah,
Home Minister Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin said the government was also committed to optimising the security network in the Eastern Sabah Security Command (ESSCom) by further enhancing the capabilities of the security forces particularly in terms of members and state-of-the-art equipment.
“However, there are several challenges faced by ESSCom in controlling the influx of migrants, including the geographical position of the east coast of Sabah near the borders of neighbouring countries which opens the door to various forms of cross-border crime.
“Besides, the east coast area of Sabah which starts from Kudat to Tawau along 2,344.6 kilometres is a very long area,” he said at the Dewan Negara yesterday.
He was responding to a question from Senator Datuk Donald Peter Mojuntin regarding the main challenges faced by ESScom in curbing the entry of illegal immigrants from the Philippines to the east coast of Sabah.
Hamzah said the existence of many islands in Sabah’s east coast waters, namely around 307 islands, allows migrants from the southern Philippines to hide in the islands in order to avoid being detected by the Malaysian authorities before entering the country’s waters illegally.
He said another challenge was the existence of close ties between the people of Sabah and the Philippines as well as travelling to and fro between the two countries has long been a habit or practice of the local community.
Apart from that, the existence of informers among the locals who provide information on the presence of marine assets of the security forces to skippers who bring in the illegal immigrants further complicates efforts to track the movement of boats carrying the foreign nationals into Sabah waters, he said. — Bernama
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