KOTA KINABALU: Sabah STAR president Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan said that the Malaysia Border Control and Protection Agency Act 2024 (Act 860) undermines Sabah’s immigration autonomy and dilutes the state's powers under agriculture and veterinary services.
He said that the importation licensing powers of the state’s Agriculture and Veterinary Services (DVS) Departments could be placed under the federal border authority.
He said that under the Act, both Veterinary and Agriculture Departments which currently hold absolute control over licensing, importation, and quarantine of agricultural inputs, produce, and livestock, face the risk of being placed under the purview of the federal border agency.
“It potentially undermines the state's authority on the matter,” he said in a statement Thursday (May 14).
“Before AKPS, the two departments have been instrumental in protecting Sabah from harm and diseases from outside.
“Under AKPS, they will be under the purview of AKPS and the Sabah agencies risk being over-ridden by federal decisions,” Kitingan said.
He said these agencies have long served as Sabah’s frontline defence against agricultural and veterinary threats, and any erosion of their powers would compromise the state’s ability to safeguard its food security and biosecurity.
Kitingan’s statement comes after the state Cabinet decided to defer the implementation of AKPS in the state until there is a guarantee on Sabah’s autonomous powers over immigration, as well as the authority of the state government in the matter.
Jeffrey noted that the immigration autonomy has “rightly been defended” and urged the State Government to adopt a firm “no compromise” stance across all areas of autonomy.
The Keningau MP said that Sabah’s sovereign rights, entrenched in the Federal Constitution and the IGC Report, must be protected from federal encroachment.
He called for invasive laws such as Act 860 to be put on hold or rejected outright, warning that operational efficiency should never override constitutional safeguards.
