Some village heads, JKKK chairmen not reporting illegal immigrants presence - ESSCom

The Eastern Sabah Security Command (ESSCom) regrets that some village heads and Village Security and Development Committee (JKKK) chairmen did not report the presence of illegal immigrants in their areas.

Its deputy director of Intelligence, ACP Justin Hashim said this was important to facilitate security monitoring and implementation of integrated operation to free Eastern Sabah Security Zone (ESSZone) of illegal immigrants.

"ESSCom has told village heads and JKKK chairmen to report the presence of illegal immigrants but when we conducted integrated operations, many illegal immigrants were arrested for not having legal identification documents.

"The premises where the illegal immigrants were arrested were not far from the homes of village heads or JKKK chairmen.

"ESSCom must find the cause of this. It requires a paradigm shift and honesty of all parties," he said at a security briefing for Sukau State Assemblyman Datuk Saddi Abdul Rahman yesterday.

The involvement of village heads and JKKK chairmen is important to ensure that no illegal immigrants or their stooges assisted cross-border crime such as kidnapping.

Hashim reiterated the government should require all village heads and JKKK chairmen in ESSZOne provide a demography of the population in the security area.

He hoped the ministry responsible for appointing village heads and JKKK chairmen to screen the candidates to weed out the 'bad apples.'

"We must not forsake national sovereignty. Village heads and JKKK chairmen are our bastion at grassroots level and should recognise the new faces."