One Malaysian official considered as “troublesome" Filipinos living in Sabah while another warned they could become potential threats to Malaysia’s security once parts of Mindanao are given autonomy, according to a confidential 2006 US cable released by WikiLeaks.
The online whistleblower uploaded the cable on its website on Wednesday, divulging comments made by Malaysian officials to American diplomats regarding a population boom in Sabah.
More and more Filipinos are residing in Sabah, raising concerns among Malaysian officials that the Philippines might regain control of much of the territory’s eastern part. Filipinos and Indonesians already outnumber Malaysians 3 to 1 along Sabah’s east coast from Sandakan to Tawau.
Sabah’s Youth and Sports minister Masidi Manjun “singled out Filipino Muslims from Mindanao as especially troublesome."
According to the cable, Manjun said the Filipin0 residents in Sabah, who were granted citizenship and related voting rights in the 1990s under then Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad, are “not as devout as us" and also resented that Filipinos are “using our social services and not integrating into society," blaming them for “vagrancy and violence."
Porous borders
Resident Sabah Commissioner Simon Sipaun also told US officials that many Filipinos on Sabah’s east coast were a potential security threat “if they decide to become more politically active, or if parts of Mindanao become more autonomous."
Malaysian Assemblyman Samson Chin Chee Tsu expressed apprehension that Mindanao-based Muslim extremists might attack nearby Sabah, considering its “maritime and land borders are ‘very porous. ’"
Hundreds of Filipinos every year enter Sabah illegally in search of a better life. Most of these undocumented Filipinos in Sabah come from Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, and other far-flung provinces. As many as 200,000 Filipinos work and stay illegally in Sabah, but Malaysian immigration authorities say the number could be higher.
“We need them here, or our economy would collapse," Manjun was reported in the cable as saying, admitting that the estimated total of 750,000 illegal immigrants in Sabah contribute much to the island’s economy.
Sabah is an island south of Mindanao, and its northern territory is the subject of dispute between the Philippines and Malaysia. For decades, the Philippines has laid claim of sovereignty over the island in international courts. — MRT/VS
