KOTA KINABALU: Sabah has the highest number of illegal immigrants (PATI) in the country, said Institute for Development Studies executive director Anthony Kiob.
"Of the 3.9 million population in Sabah, 1.2 million are foreigners with Tawau having the highest number at 180,000, followed by Sandakan and Kota Kinabalu.
"The large inflow of PATI into Sabah could be due to the existence of syndicates suspected of smuggling foreigners in to work in oil palm plantations," he said in a statement, adding that some of them were protected by locals who used them for cheap labour and even given identification cards.
Kiob added that the concern for Sabah's sovereignty and security has long been voiced by Sabah leaders and people.
He said the Sabah government should proceed with the initiative to introduce a special new identification card specifically for Malaysians in the state.
The document would be able to ensure only genuine locals exercise their rights to vote during elections; and resolve the citizenship and documentation problems among the various ethnics groups in Sabah.
"Most of the respondents (82 per cent) of this study believe that a new Sabah-specific identity card (Sabah IC) can help reduce the presence of PATI in Sabah.
"Sabah IC was also one of the recommendations in a report completed in 2014 by the Royal Commission of Inquiry on the issue of illegal immigrants in Sabah," Kiob said, adding the report confirmed thousands of foreigners were granted citizenships systematically in the 1980s and 1990s, which changed the state's demographics.
However, he said to ensure Sabah IC serves its purpose, the state government needs an effective mechanism to prevent fraudulent documents.
"Another challenge is for the government to reach out to communities in remote and inaccessible areas in Sabah.
"Most may not have birth certificates or MyKads and therefore special criteria must be set out before any implementation is carried out to authenticate these communities."