Malaysia, Philippines Discuss Speeding Up Repatriation of Undocumented Migrants in Sabah – Mohamad Hasan

MANILA: Malaysia and the Philippines today discussed measures to expedite the repatriation process of more than 5,000 undocumented migrants from the Philippines who are in four detention centres in Sabah.

Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan said the screening by the Philippine Embassy in Kuala Lumpur has identified more than 1,000 individuals from that number who can be sent back.

“So we discussed just now how to speed up the process of sending back undocumented migrants from the Philippines by that country’s government via sea or any other means.

“These detention centres are no longer able to accommodate such a large number of detainees,” he told Bernama after the 9th Malaysia-Philippines Joint Commission (JCM) Meeting at the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs here today.

Mohamad said Malaysia wants the Philippine government to take immediate action to bring back the detainees to their home country, while the screening process for the next group will continue.

In addition, Mohamad said both countries also discussed the issue of education for children of Filipino nationals in Sabah, with Malaysia agreeing to look into the need to provide learning classes to enable them to continue their education before being sent back.

However, he stressed that any such education facility must be managed by the Philippine government to ensure it is properly regulated.

“We do not want private schools to be established and then become unregulated,” he said.

Meanwhile, regarding the issue of claims over Sabah by certain parties in the Philippines, Mohamad said the matter was not discussed directly in the JCM, but he asked the country to respect the law and international recognition that Sabah is part of Malaysia.

“Sabah has been recognised by the United Nations (UN) as part of Malaysia. So there is no issue for them to say Sabah is not Malaysian territory,” he said.

Earlier, Mohamad co-chaired the JCM together with Philippine Foreign Secretary Ma. Theresa P. Lazaro.

BERNAMA