Countdown to crackdown in Malaysia
As reported here before, Malaysia will unleash a nation-wide crackdown on illegal immigration on February 1, using police, immigration officers, and paramilitary bounty hunters to round up the suspected hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants in the country.
For tea stall helper Abdul Rauf Chinanaina — a 19-year-old Tamil Muslim from the tsunami devastated coastal settlement of Nagapattinam in southern India’s Tamil Nadu state — the clock is mercilessly ticking away day by day.
An undocumented migrant worker, Rauf must return home - to a devastated village - before Jan. 31 when an amnesty for all unregistered workers will end. Otherwise, he becomes a hunted man if he stays.
”The waves killed my father, two sisters and many relatives but I dare not return to help or pray for them because the debt collector and his gang are all alive and would demand repayment of the loan I got from the thugs,” said Rauf while serving customers at a roadside tea stall in the Ampang suburb, north of the capital.
The government is making final preparations - readying the police, immigration and a 500,000-member civil defense force called RELA - for a nationwide crackdown on undocumented workers from Feb. 1.
Some RELA members would be armed when raiding illegal settlements and squatter communities where undocumented workers live. The people are also urged to help by passing on information to the authorities.
”This time we will be relentless,” said Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak. ”We have extended the amnesty twice and this time there is absolutely no excuse for them to remain.’
The Philipines are preparing to handle thousands of its citizens returning from Malaysia.
“Upon arriving, they will be provided with food assistance, access to health services, and stress debriefing seminars. Those who live in the provinces will be provided transportation through our ‘balik-probinsya’ program. Some may also be given self-employment assistance,’’ Bala said.
Recently, the Malaysian government, using its new immigration law, launched a crackdown on foreign illegal workers in the country.
Based on report from the Social Welfare attache in Malaysia, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has initially processed the repatriation papers of 15,000 Filipino workers. About 7,000 of them already returned home last year.
The 8,000 remaining Filipinos in the list are being monitored by the Social Welfare attache in Malaysia and will be returning on separate dates next month.
Approximately, 150,000 Filipinos are working in Malaysia mostly as construction workers or domestic helpers, the DSWD said.
Illegal immigrants who accepted the amnesty offer will be given priority for work visas in Malaysia, according to Malaysian newspaper Daily Express.
Illegal foreign workers who took the amnesty offer and returned to their home countries will be given priority to fill job vacancies in Malaysia for three months beginning next week, Home Affairs Minister Datuk Azmi Khalid said Wednesday.
During that period, the intake of new foreign workers would be temporarily frozen and employment agents or employers could only bring in those who opted for the amnesty.
“Those we have proof that they chose the amnesty will be given priority to return to work here,” he told reporters Wednesday.
Up to Jan 24, a total 331,134 illegal immigrants returned to their home countries under the amnesty first offered for 17 days from Oct 29 and later extended twice. It will now end on Jan 31.
Indonesians made up the largest number who left at 289,735, followed by Indians (14,859), Bangladeshis (6,722), Nepalese (2,704) and Chinese (2,898). Malaysia and Indonesia have agreed to jointly operate 14 one-stop immigration processing centres in Indonesia to clear workers who wished to return legally to work in Malaysia.
