I read with deep concern over the developments in Sabah and the current efforts being made by a new organisation called Pacific to obtain large number of petitions for the government to take action over illegal immigrants and the issuance of false identity cards to immigrants.

Sabah is at a kind of crossroads today. It has no money. There is no clear direction for its economic growth. Its resources, especially gas and petroleum, are in the hands of the federal government. It tries to promote tourism but with the orangutan disappearing, the tourists, too, will disappear.

With high unemployment, large numbers of the young people have left Sabah to get employment in the Peninsula. The future seems to be bleak. Sabahans are anxious as to the future of their beloved state and rightly so. However, various questions remain unanswered as to how Barisan National, specifically Umno, took control over the state. Among the unanswered questions are the high level of corruption and massive issuance of temporary identity cards, particularly in 1999, to immigrants.

In seeking for answers and in the quest to redress the situation, what are we campaigning for? Are we demanding the current government be made accountable for the mess Sabahans are facing? Are we demanding to an end of corruption, exploitation and use of religion for political gain by political leaders? Or do we want to get rid of refugees, undocumented migrants and stateless children? And believe that the problem will then be solved?

If it is transparency and accountability of the government and its agencies, then the clamour for a royal commission must be to investigate the commissions and omissions of the various relevant government agencies, specifically those related to the different documents that have been issued.

The role of political leaders and parties in the discrepancies in decisions - especially during election periods - should also be probed

But statements from Pacific seem to say that Sabah has to rid itself of immigrants. And this is indeed worrying. They are the victims. They are not the cause. Thirty-five years have gone by and the government has yet to make a decision on refugees with IMM13 status (a social stay pass given to Filipinos who fled to Sabah in the 1970s).

There are a startling 50,000 or more stateless children in Sabah. Behind every number is a human being. One person caught in a web of conflict, of inequality, of poverty, of insecurity, of power and dominance.

Do we remove them from the web and free them? Or do we point our finger at them and incarcerate them? Or do we free ourselves so that justice and good governance reigns?