A well-known political and social activist has warned of the real possibility of Sabah being subject to a reverse take-over by foreigners unless there is greater resolve and determination by the federal government to tackle the problems created by the presence of thousands of illegal immigrants in the state.

Dr Jeffrey Kitingan, brother of former chief minister Joseph Pairin Kitingan said today the federal government must change its attitude and recognise a real serious problem exists that is potentially undermining the sovereignty of the state and nation.

Speaking to malaysiakini on the sidelines of a Suhakam roundtable discussion on human rights and citizenship in Kota Kinabalu, he described the illegal immigrant problem as reaching a highly critical stage as foreigners were equal in number if not more than Malaysians of Sabah origin.

Many concerned citizens who took part in the roundtable discussion told malaysiakini the possible scenario of a trojan horse preparing for the reverse take-over.

They said although Malaysia has rejected it, the Philippines claim to Sabah remains as far as Manila is concerned and many Filipinos in Sabah actually believe Sabah is part of the republic.

It is estimated there are 1.75 million foreigners in the state, including 750,000 illegals, mostly from southern Philippines.

Favours only one side

During the roundtable discussion, Jeffrey blamed the existing problems on what he called the mis-implementation of the concept of the Federation of Malaysia right from the start.

According to him, the original concept was to treat Malaya, Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore as equal partners, with equal voice in running the government at the centre.

But as it turned out, he added, federal government decisions tended to favour only one side much to the detriments of Sabah and Sarawak.

There was a need to change what he called the current policy of hegemony and divide and rule at both state and federal level in order to bring all Malaysians together as one and to treat them as equals.

He advocated a change of mindset on the part of government leaders and if they were unable to do so they should be replaced, if necessary by the people during elections.

He echoed the strong sentiments expressed by many of the roundtable participants about the need for the government not only to recognise the existence of a serious problem in Sabah because of illegal immigrants but also to be more serious in tackling such a problem.

He suggested that locals should head the two important government departments - national registration and immigration.

One of the issues mentioned during the discussion was the purported issuance of at least a million genuine and false identity cards to foreigners who had landed in Sabah allowing them to be voters.

The extent of the problem was highlighted by a Sabah-born medical practitioner Dr Peter Celestine who said even foreign professionals were making a mockery of the laws of the country.

Pakistani doctor case

He cited the case of some Pakistanis who have Malaysian identity cards showing they were born in Sabah and went to Johor Bahru to open clinics.

Another was the case of a man from Peshawar, Pakistan who wrote to him (Peter) saying he wanted to work in his clinic.

"About six months later he ended up in my clinic, introduced himself and said he was the man who wrote to him," Peter said, adding that he told the man unless he has PR he cannot practice and that as a foreign doctor he has to serve for at least 10 years with the Ministry of Health to apply for PR and to set up a practice.

"He told me he had already done a survey in Kudat, Sabah where there are a lot of Pakistanis and will set up a practice there," he said, adding all this might sound like an absolute joke but it actually happened, due to rampant corruption.

Jeffrey said something must be done urgently to address the problems Sabah is now facing.

"We expect Suhakam to bring the feedbacks to higher level and possiblu set up an independent inquiry so that we can tackle this proble."