The Malaysian Immigration Department has arrested 2,433 illegal immigrants, including 387 Bangladeshis, on the first day of its biggest ever crackdown against those entering the country illegally. Talking to newsmen, Malaysian home minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said on Monday that 8,105 people were checked throughout the country till early Monday. Ahmad Zahid said Indonesian nationals made up the largest number of illegal immigrants arrested, accounting for 717, followed by Myanmarese (555), Bangladeshis (387) and Nepalese (229).
“I have never experienced such a thing in the past six years that I have been working in Malaysia,” Manik Sheikh, a Bangladeshi worker, told the media. He was released after submitting his documents.
However, overseas employment ministry secretary, Dr Zafar Ahmed Khan, told The Independent that it was closely monitoring the situation and the Bangladesh High Commission in Kuala Lumpur had been instructed to provide all possible help to the Bangladeshi workers.
The government has requested the Malaysian authorities to be sympathetic towards those who could not be legalised, taking advantage of the amnesty, despite having necessary documents, as they were cheated by middlemen.
Presently, there are nearly half a million Bangladeshi workers in Malaysia, of which around 40 thousand are illegal.
The Malaysian home minister said: “This operation is not seasonal and will not end on December 31 this year. This is an ongoing operation and we will not compromise. Our target is to achieve zero illegal immigrants”.
In the exercise yesterday, 2,207 personnel from the ministry’s agencies, such as the Immigration Department (976 personnel), People’s Volunteer Corps, or Rela (479), Royal Malaysia Police (370), Department of Civil Defence (94), National Registration Department (72), Anti-Smuggling Unit (43), National Anti-Drugs Agency (33) and MACC (48) were involved.
Ahmad Zahid said the ministry would continue to work with the diplomatic missions of countries which are a source of immigrant workers to facilitate the issuing of permits.
“We will take action in accordance with the principles of international law, including that demanded by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), to avoid human trafficking,” he said.
Ahmad Zahid gave the assurance that the Immigration Department was prepared to approve applications for permits, if the applicants adhered to rules and the proper channel.
“Although there have been claims that the Immigration Department made it difficult for them by not issuing permits despite repeated applications and through various means, I give the assurance that permits will be issued for applications that are in order. I hope people will not use the services of middle-men, but go directly to the One-Stop Centre represented by the ministry and departments to verify the issuing of permits by sector,” he said.
“The economy is softening, growth is moderating, and this makes it an ideal time to shed the excess illegal foreign workers,” said Dr Shankaran Nambiar, Senior Research Fellow at the Malaysian Institute of Economic Research.
-With The Independent input
