Indonesian President confirmed shifting Indonesia capital to Kalimantan in 2024 bringing along one million population, Sarawak government has to take some precautions before hand in view of additional one million population to be moved to new capital in Kalimantan with expected increasing activities across Sarawak-Kalimantan border.
Sarawak Indonesia Kalimantan border security has been weak with hardly any sizable army station at the long borderline. Sarawak people worried this could be the beginning of Project IC similar to Sabah case.
Security wise Sarawak needs own army to patrol it's coastal and Sarawak-Kalimantan border. Therefore revival of Sarawak Rangers should be considered seriously.
Obviously immigration system should be revamped with full Internet connection via either fibre or satellite connection to access Malaysia database and International Interpol for cross checking to prevent criminals and terrorists from entering or leaving Sarawak.
Jokowi confirms Indonesia capital’s move to Kalimantan, report says could happen as early as 2024
(Borneo Post AUGUST 10, 2019, SATURDAY AT 9:25 AM)
KUCHING: Confirming that the Indonesian capital will move to Kalimantan, which neighbours Sarawak, the country’s president Joko Widodo said on Facebook that only the exact location is still undecided.
“Our capital will move. It will be on Kalimantan island. The location can be in Central Kalimantan, East Kalimantan or South Kalimantan,” he posted on his Facebook page on Thursday
Joko, who is popularly known as Jokowi, added that all aspects of the capital’s relocation was being studied, including the experience of other countries in moving their administrative centres.
“In deciding on the relocation of the capital, my position is not as the head of the administration but the head of the country. We have to see the bigger picture for our people and country for the next 10, 50, 100 years,” he said.
The Indonesian president had expressed his hope, in an interview aired by Astro Awani last week, that Sarawak and Sabah will extend their cooperation to his country on the relocation.
Jokowi had announced his plan to relocate the capital outside Java in May this year, citing the overpopulation on the island and the need to bring about a more equitable development to its territory.
It was reported on July 30 by the Indonesian press that Jokowi had decided on Kalimantan.
Last Thursday, Indonesian news portal, Jakarta Globe, said the move to Kalimantan will take place in 2024 at the earliest and the president will announce the location later this month.
“Whether it be Central, East, or South Kalimantan, it will be decided soon after a presentation of the details [of the viability studies].These are related to disaster risks, environmental capacity … economy, demography, sociopolitical conditions, security and all aspects that must be considered in detail, so the decision we take will be correct for our future vision,” Jokowi said in his opening remarks during a cabinet meeting, the report said.
National Development Planning Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro also said in the report that in addition to enough vacant land, other matters to be considered included forest fires and the availability of water.
The minister said the government would establish an agency to oversee the relocation process. He added that the president also wants the new capital to meet international standards, so it can become a reference point for other cities in Indonesia.
The news website said the project might require about Rp 93 trillion (RM27 billion) from the state budget, but Bambang said the government expects the private sector to contribute to the development of the new capital.
All preparations, including the legal framework, are expected to be completed by next year, so construction can start by 2021.
“We hope to execute the first phase of the capital relocation process by 2024,” Bambang said in the report.
Source: Borneo Post
Sarawak group to look into influx of people from western Asia
(FreeMalaysiaToday-Larissa Lumandan - June 24, 2019 7:27 PM)
KUCHING: A Sarawak civic organisation is working on a study into the rising number of foreigners found in semi-rural areas of the state, while expressing its concerns about the impact of such an influx on the social fabric of Sarawak.
Francis Paul Siah, head of the Movement for Change, Sarawak, said the society would work closely with all political parties, community leaders and religious organisations to preserve Sarawak’s way of life.
“We hope to complete this study by the end of this year or the first quarter of next year,” he said, adding that they would submit their findings to the state and federal governments for further action.
The state director of Immigration said recently that 950 Pakistanis and possibly 2,000 others from the Middle East had been found in semi-rural districts of the state.
Siah said genuine immigrants coming to Sarawak to work or study would be welcomed. However, the safety of Sarawak’s people should not be taken for granted.
“The arrest of an Egyptian terror suspect for alleged involvement in Islamic State activities in Serian early this year is a case in point,” he said. “He has already indoctrinated his Sarawakian wife to be an Islamic warrior and this is a very serious case.”
Siah said most of these immigrants were found in Limbang, Mambong, Samarahan, Serian, Betong, Bau, Matang, Julau and Kapit.
“We have also received reports that these migrants have been going in and out of Sarawak via the lax immigration posts at Tebedu and Serikin,” he said.
The porous border with Brunei had also raised difficulties for the authorities to tackle the issue.
Siah also alleged that some Immigration officers had been prepared to “sell their souls” to overlook the entry of these aliens.
Source: FMT
Illegal immigrants in Sarawak a ‘huge problem’, deputy home minister admits
(MalayMail - Published 4 years ago on 11 April 2015 By SULOK TAWIE)
KUCHING, April 11 — Sarawak’s illegal immigrants numbers are alarming, Datuk Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar admitted today after unverified intelligence reports emerged, estimating the community’s population to be between 320,000 and 350,000.
The deputy home minister said stringent measures must be taken to keep the east Malaysian state clean of illegals, including immediate deportation of those caught without valid travel documents.
Wan Junaidi, who is Santubong MP, revealed that most of the illegal immigrants are employed in oil palm plantations year the state’s border with Kalimantan, Indonesia.
“If this information is genuine, then we have a huge problem, considering that the state is huge and has a population of 2.6 million,” he said after chairing a high-level meeting to coordinate strategies on issues involving immigration and human trafficking along the Sarawak-Kalimantan border areas.
He said he will call for a meeting with these plantation companies, especially those that operate large swathes of land, to warn them against hiring more illegal immigrants.
“I would like to remind them not to take an easy way out by employing the illegal immigrants because they do not have to pay insurance, Employees Provident Fund and so on, but at the end of the day, when they are caught by the authorities, they have to pay more in terms of fines,” he said.
He said the government is giving the companies time to phase out their hiring of illegal workers before large scale operations are carried out to nab those found guilty of the offence.
Wan Junaidi said the Sarawak government does not tolerate the presence of illegal immigrants and has declared getting rid of them its main priority.
“At this meeting, we have made a decision to deport anyone caught without any valid documents to their countries of origin and if they enter Sarawak from another country, then we will deport them to that country,” he said.
Citing an example, Wan Junaidi said if illegal immigrants from the Philippines enter Sarawak from Sabah, the state government will deport them to Sabah.
Wan Junaidi also directed the state Immigration Department to submit a weekly report to him, the Sarawak State Secretary’s Office and the Immigration Department headquarters on the ongoing operations against illegal immigrants.
“The report must be submit on every Friday, starting next week,” he said.
“If there is no progress or no action taken, then we want to know why,” he added.
Source: MalayMail
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