The stateless people occupying the open space in Sembulan.
KOTA KINABALU: Former deputy chief minister Datuk Christina Liew has urged the State government to act swiftly against a group of “stateless people” found squatting in Sembulan near here.
Making the call, she said makeshift shelters have sprung up from nowhere, and men, women and children were seen visibly sleeping in an open space adjacent to the old water village, off the Coastal Highway.
The Api Api assemblywoman stressed that there is a pressing need to nip the problem in the bud before it gets out of hand and starts to create social ills.
“Prevention is better than cure. The relevant authority must take appropriate action quickly so that the undocumented people’s illegal occupation of the area in question will not grow into a colony of sorts. We don’t want this to happen.
“It is inconceivable that this undesirable situation is developing before our very eyes right in the heart of Kota Kinabalu City,” Liew said in a statement, Thursday.
Given the unhygienic conditions in which the squatters are living, she warned against the potential development of a new Covid-19 cluster in the affected location, if left unchecked.
“It is unlikely that this transient population has undergone Covid-19 screening,” she said.