The 8 TOR for the RCI on Sabah's illegal immigrant problem

For future reference, I have appended herewith, the eight (8) Terms of Reference (TOR) for the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on Sabah's illegal immigrant problem announced by Prime Minister Najib Razak in Kota Kinabalu on Saturday, August 11, 2012.

The Royal Commission of Inquiry will be headed by former chief judge of Sabah and Sarawak Steve Shim. The five-member panel has been given six months, to deliver it findings.


Terms of reference (TOR)

1. To determine the number of immigrants in Sabah that have been given blue identity cards or identity cards or citizenship and if so whether these documents or citizenship was done legally.


2. To investigate whether the issuance of blue identity cards or citizenship to immigrants in Sabah was in accordance with the law.


3. To investigate whether immigrants in Sabah holding blue identity cards, temporary identification receipts (blue) or citizenship documents had been illegally registered into the electoral rolls.


4. To probe whether the authorities had taken any action or carried out any improvements to standard operating procedures (SOP), measures and regulations to avoid any infringement of the law.


5. To investigate in detail the SOP, measures and regulations relating to the issuance of blue identity cards or citizenship to immigrants in Sabah by taking into account international standards and norms used in Malaysia and to recommend any amendments or changes to strengthen or improve the SOP, measures and regulations.


6. To investigate the reasons for the increase in Sabah's population in the following categories:

i)   Sabahans living in the state, including those accorded blue identity cards and citizenship
     through late registration of birth;
ii)  foreign workers (including their families);
iii) illegal immigrants (including their families);
iv) refugees;

and their impact on the electoral roll.


7. To investigate the social implications of the issuance of blue identity cards or citizenship to immigrants in the state on Sabahans.


8.  To determine the number of foreigners in Sabah who have been given blue identity cards or citizenship by taking into account their stateless status.

The RCI Composition

The commission was set up under the Commissions of Inquiry Act 1950 which requires the consent of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong. The commission consists of a Chairman, a Secretary and four Commissioners, listed as follows:

Chairman:
Steve Shim Lip Kiong  - The commission will be chaired by former Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak.

Secretary:
Saripuddin Kasim        - Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Ministry secretary-general.

Four commissioners:
1) Herman Luping                         - former State Attorney-general
2) Prof Dr Kamaruzaman Ampon   - former Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) vice-chancellor,
3) KY Mustafa                              - former Sabah State secretary
4) Henry Chin Poy Wu                  - Malaysian Crime Prevention Foundation deputy chairman,


Reason for setting up of the RCI

This (image below) is the population of the state of Sabah obtained from Department of Statistics Malaysia, which appeared in my previous article. This has been the subject of hot debates among politicians and the general public for many years now.

Let's the law takes its course and hope for the best.

Number of the day: 923,300 people in Sabah are non-Malaysians

I don't know about you but for me this is very disturbing.

About 923,300 out of 3.12 million of the population is about 30%. Or almost one third of the people walking among us are non-Malaysian. They can be expatriates, valid passport holders, registered workers, or at the worst illegal immigrants. Refer to a comprehensive geographical population distribution in my previous article.

According to the latest census in 2012, Sabah , with 3.12 million people, is the third most populous state in Malaysia, after Selangor and Johor.

It is interesting how Sabah quickly overtook Sarawak, the biggest state in Malaysia, in terms of population growth between 1970 and 2010. The following table is a summary of an article published in the Daily Express, July 13, 2012:

	1970	2010	Increase
Sabah	636,431	3,120,040	390%
Sarawak	976,269	2,420,009	148%

The following is the statistics of Sabah population gathered from the Daily Express, DE, publication, July 13, 2012, page 10. I have quoted my source; in case that you disagree, the Department of Statistics is the place to go.

	1991	2000	2010
Kadazandusun	321,834	458,769	545,700
Bajau	203,457	330,996	398,100
Murut	50,255	80,872	97,100
Malay	57,375	225,819	362,700
plus Muslim Bumiputera	48,365	69,014	NA
Other Bumiputeras	246,735	NA	448,800
Chinese	200,056	254,528	280,600
Other Races	180,433	133,766	148,700
Non-Malaysians	425,433	552,987	923,300
	1,734,685	2,488,248	3,120,040

          NA - figures not available


Compared to National Population Growth

The annual national population growth is about 2% (The Star Online, July 12, 2012), while Sabah registered a growth rate of about 2.1% in 2010. However, between 1980 and 1991 (DE) Sabah registered a 'population explosion' of 6.54%.

1991 - 2000 : 2.97%
1980 - 1991 : 6.54%

No state in Malaysia ever registered population growth of such magnitude!

Sabah Population in 2010?

Is there any truth to these figures? Anyone care to interpret this statistics?

World Population hits 7 Billion

Think about this:

A screen shot of the live updates at the time this entry was posted (1-11-2011).
Source: Worldometers

On Monday the United Nations officially declared a baby born in the Philippines as the world's 7 billionth occupant. According to the statement, Danica May Camacho was born just after midnight Monday at a local hospital in Manila. After declaring her the honorary 7 billionth inhabitant of the planet, U.N. officials presented the baby's parents with a scholarship for her education and a financial package to help them open a general store.

The world's population has doubled in the past 50 years, and the 6 billionth occupant was officially born Oct. 12, 1999, in Bosnia - just about 12 years ago.


As shown in the graph below, the world population is increasing at accelerated pace since 1950 and if this trend continues we will have a population of 10 billion by 2050.

Source: USA Today

So, what does this mean to us?

It is inevitable there will be an increase in the demand on the world's natural resources and that increase would be exponential. Many of these are already under tremendous pressure from current rate of depletion.

Essential things like water, coal, oil and gas, phosphorus (for plants to grow), rare earth elements such as neodymium (e.g. for electricity generation, etc) will become scarce and as smart as we humans are, there will certainly be a melt-point somewhere not too far away from now where the graph will plot into a plateau.

In short, looking from science point of view, how well we cope with increasing population depends much on how well we manage our WATER, FOOD and ENERGY.

So, as you think of water, food and energy, think green. Act and treat our earth with our children's children in mind.