KOTA KINABALU, March 17 — Special consideration will be given to Sabah in implementing the controversial citizenship amendments passed in Parliament last October, said Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Seri Jeffrey Kitingan.
The Keningau MP said support for the amendments was conditional on assurances from the Home Ministry, which pushed them through despite objections from groups concerned about their impact on marginalised communities.
“They assured me that they will give special attention to Sabah. They will not decide anything on their own without our input, that is what was promised. Because of that, our concern was taken into account and the amendments were passed,” said Kitingan.
The Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku (STAR) president said he was aware of the difficulties many rural Sabahans face in securing citizenship.
“We know many of them don’t go to hospitals, don’t have birth certificates, but they are rightfully citizens. That’s why I wanted Sabah to be exempt from this because of the circumstances,” he said.
Sabahan leaders had raised their concerns in a special briefing with Home Minister Datuk Saifuddin Nasution Ismail and were promised discussions before the amendments take full effect, he added.
“We are still working on this, but we need to follow up, perhaps in writing. The meeting minutes are recorded, so we have their word on this. There is no provision to exempt Sabah, but a joint committee in the state now ensures we are part of the decision-making process.
“They understand that there should be special considerations for us,” he said.
Concerns over amendments
Parliament passed several amendments last October altering how citizenship is granted in certain cases. While some were seen as progressive, activists argued that others were regressive and could worsen conditions for marginalised communities.
Kitingan had previously called the changes a “double-edged sword,” saying they had pros and cons but could also reopen Sabah to illegal immigrants. He had called for Sabah to be exempt.
One amendment removes automatic citizenship for children born to Malaysian permanent residents. Activists warn this could increase statelessness, limiting access to education, healthcare, and employment.
Rural populations and children of mixed parentage are particularly vulnerable. Advocates have criticised the government for not consulting them despite their experience dealing with affected communities.
State-led citizenship process
Kitingan said it would be ideal for Sabah to take charge of vetting its own citizens through a state-run home affairs ministry overseeing labour laws, citizenship, and immigration.
“Personally, I still think we should implement a Sabah IC. It can be done as there is no law against us. It will differentiate us from other citizens and enable us to enforce native and immigration laws.
“It would also help to weed out those who got their citizenship from ‘Project IC’. I don’t agree that it is not doable. If you can issue visas, MyKads, and debit cards, you can issue a Sabah IC,” he said, referring to clandestine operations in the 1970s that granted immigrants citizenship to shift the electoral roll in the ruling government’s favour.
Kitingan, a proponent of Sabah-centric movements like Sabah Day, said a special mechanism would allow Sabahan authorities to verify genuine Sabahans from the grassroots level up.
“The officers would conduct registration exercises from kampung to kampung, which would involve getting their biometrics. They would issue this card which would grant them access to state-specific resources.
“The kampung people would know who is part of their community, and this has to be verified by a native chief. It should be easier with digitalising information. To avoid abuse of power, we can implement a three-layer approval process — create a system or mechanism to make sure there is no space for abuse,” he said.
Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku (STAR) president Datuk Jeffrey Kitingan speaks to Malay Mail in Kota Kinabalu March 11, 2025. — Picture by Julia Chan
Addressing illegal immigration
Kitingan also highlighted Sabah’s ongoing foreign worker registration exercise, now in its second year, which has uncovered widespread reliance on undocumented workers, particularly in plantations.
Tens of thousands of workers are needed in Sabah’s oil palm industry, but a pilot exercise found that over half, even in government-linked firms, were working illegally.
Kitingan’s plan was to register all workers first to assess the situation before taking further steps.
“The plan was to invite everyone, regardless of status, to just register first, by making it free of charge to encourage people to come forward voluntarily,” he said.
However, he recently learned that the process had changed, and those managing the data were now also handling registration and charging fees.
“They are not supposed to charge for the initial registration to ensure there is no impediment at this point in the exercise. People were supposed to volunteer, we have said that in the beginning, but suddenly I am reading that they are charging hefty sums for registration — this is not what I intended,” he said.
“I am disappointed that the charges are so high. I heard they have come down now but I don’t know by how much, just that they have reduced. My personal stand during the meeting is that you need the data first — register them, even at our cost, because we need to register everybody,” he said.
Kitingan said he wanted a system with yearly renewals once data collection was complete.
“Because that data is the basis for our decisions. I will bring this up at our next meeting so we can have a different structure for them,” he said.
“We would like to resolve this, so we want to assist them in getting documents so they can work legally. There are too many workers who have no bank accounts, no access to healthcare, they can’t send their kids to school… We are both losing opportunities here.
“I am sure they also want to be legal. And the only way is to be documented,” he said.
As of April 2024, the Sabah Integrated Management of Foreign Workers and Non-Residents (SWIMS) under GLC Smart Sabah had recorded data on 39,276 people since its exercise began in September 2022.
Of those, 21,994 were workers in the agriculture and construction industries, while 17,282 were their dependents.
The system digitally profiles foreign workers through personal information collection, facial recognition, and biometrics.
