KL deports 641 Pinoys; Moros, Sultanate protest

From the Manila Standard Today (Aug 18): KL deports 641 Pinoys; Moros, Sultanate protest

A TOTAL of 641 Filipino immigrants were said to have been deported by the Malaysian government to rid the country of illegals particularly in Sabah, a move opposed by the Moro National Liberation Front and the Sultanate of Sulu.

The MNLF said Filipinos living in Sandakan, Semporna, Lahad Datu, Tawao and Kudat in Sabah were being ejected despite having legitimate documents.

The Sultanate of Sulu, which is claiming Sabah, said Malaysia had so far deported 100,000 Filipinos and that it expected that number to reach 200,000 in the coming months.

“The deportation is part of the 2004 pre-implementation plan by Malaysia as programmed by the Eastern Command forces to weed out all refugees in the country particularly in Sabah,” said Sultan Abraham Idjarani, spokesman of the Sultanate of Sulu.

He said Malaysia was forcibly taking Tausug’s out of Sabah, the ethnic group opposed to the framework agreement between the Philippine government the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

Malaysia’s Star Online on Sunday said the Filipino deportees included 293 men, 188 women and 160 children, and that those were considered the largest batch of deportees this year.

The Filipinos were part of thousands of immigrants temporarily detained at the  Sibuga detention center and in other jail facilities in Sandakan, Lahad Datu, Papar and Tawau.

The report said the deportees climbed aboard 22 buses for Sandakan, where they boarded a ferry bound for Zamboanga City.

Police Special Task Force Director Rodzi Md Saad said they deported 12,100 illegal immigrants between January and Aug. 15 this year, and of those 9,368 were Filipinos and 2,569 were Indonesians.

He said they expected to deport another 4,000 illegal immigrants by the end of the year.

“The number of illegals deported this year is considered high compared with 13,222 last year and 12,551 in 2012,” Rodzi said.

http://manilastandardtoday.com/2014/08/18/kl-deports-641-pinoys-moros-sultanate-protest/