Announcing the details and terms of reference on the setting up of the royal commission of inquiry (RCI) on Illegal Immigrants in Sabah in Kota Kinabalu today, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak said it would be given six months to complete its investigations on the influx of illegal immigrants in Sabah.

NONE Najib said the six months period would begin from the date the instruments of appointment are issued to the RCI chairperson and panel members and that the report would be submitted to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.

The commission will be chaired by former chief judge of Sabah and Sarawak Steve Shim Lip Kiong, while Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Ministry secretary-general Saripuddin Kasim has been appointed secretary.

Najib said the setting up of the commission proved the federal government's high commitment to investigate issues pertaining to immigrants in Sabah.

He said the government hoped that the Sabah people would benefit from the setting up of the RCI and give their support to the government's efforts to look for the best strategy and approach to address these problems.

Prior to this, several quarters in Sabah, including state BN component parties and non-governmental organisations, were loud in voicing their concerns over the problems of illegal immigrants in the state and wanted the BN government to address the problem.

Based on answers given in Parliament last year, the population in Sabah, which was 651,304 in 1970, rose to 929,299 a decade later. However, two decades after that, it rose to 1.5 million and in 2000, it was 2,468,246 people.

- Bernama