Thursday 30 October 2008

Migrants shot up Sabah's population

Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) deputy president Datuk Eric Majimbun said the Federal Government had confirmed that the entry of Philippine and Indonesian migrants into Sabah was a main contributor to the 278 per cent rise in the State's population between 1970 and 2000.

Majimbun, who is Sepanggar member of Parliament, said this information was in a form of written reply by Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz to his question during his debate on the National Budget in Parliament Wednesday.

In his debate, he said the increase in Sabah's population by 285 per cent, based on the Population and Housing Census for 1970 and 200, was higher than the 113 per cent increase at national level in the same period.

Nazri said the steep rise in Sabah's population between 1970 and 2000 was also contributed by the high percentage in natural population increase in the State by 137 per cent. The country's natural population increase was only 59 per cent for the same period.

Nazri said migration into Sabah also contributed to the State's population increase, with 8 per cent recorded in 1970 compared to 7.3 per cent at national level. In 2005, it rose to 16.3 per cent compared to the national leverl of 7 per cent.

He also said that the increase in population by ethnic composition was also high, with the Bumiputera and non-Bumiputera population recording an increase by 253 and 333 per cent, respectively.

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