Sabah and Sarawak are not ‘rubbish bins’, says MP after transfer of ‘problematic’ cops

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 4 — Sabah and Sarawak should not be treated as "rubbish bins" to dump government officers with integrity issues, Teluk Intan MP Nga Kor Ming told Parliament today after MPs highlighted the transfer of several police officers being probed for extortion to East Malaysia.

Nga, Sepanggar MP Datuk Mohd Azis Jamman and Kinabatangan MP Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin expressed their concern about the government's handling of such officers, disagreeing with the transfer to their states.

"Speaker, Sabah and Sarawak are not rubbish bins. Officers who are corrupt, abuse their powers, all of them cannot just be transferred to Sabah and Sarawak. Rightfully, disciplinary action must be taken to safeguard the integrity of our civil service and the minister must come to Parliament to provide an explanation," Nga said.

"As an addition, Speaker, because this too went viral. Recently, on the same day, it was reported also that there are problematic police officers, who extorted, were attempted to be sent to Sabah and Sarawak. So this too, we ask that the government explain, as to why such a thing is done, especially in the context of Sabah and Sarawak," Azis said.

"Speaker, I also want to join in. The Sabah state government also views seriously the transfer matters of police officers who are undisciplined to Sabah. It cannot happen and we cannot accept it," Bung said.

Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani earlier said the police are reviewing their plan to transfer to Sarawak nine officers who under investigation for alleged extortion.

The trio raised the matter after Pulai MP Datuk Seri Salahuddin Ayub had initially raised another issue with regards to the kerfuffle between the Immigration Department and the Public Services Department (PSD), which traded barbs yesterday after the PSD director-general publicly berated a senior immigration officer at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport yesterday.

According to a statement by the Peninsular Malaysia Immigration Service Union yesterday, the KLIA immigration operations head was screamed at and ordered to "stand straight" in front of people by the D-G who was not named.

National news agency Bernama reported the PSD as rubbishing the allegation as baseless and malicious.