Malaysia steps up campaign against illegal immigrants<\/p>\n
Agencies, Kuala Lumpur\/Nusa Dua, Bali<\/p>\n
Malaysian police rounded up 3,705 people, mostly from
\nneighboring Indonesia and the Philippines, as it stepped up its
\ncampaign to throw out illegal immigrants, police said on
\nThursday.<\/p>\n
The arrests were made in Sabah state on Borneo, the giant
\nforested island Indonesia shares with Malaysia and Brunei, and
\nare part of a nationwide sweep.<\/p>\n
More than 700 squatter homes were demolished in the operation,
\nwhich was also aimed at unearthing suspected militants hiding out
\nin northern Borneo, police said.<\/p>\n
Thousands of immigrants fled their homes in eastern Malaysia
\nto escape a massive operation aimed at deporting them and rooting
\nout any armed militants hiding among them.<\/p>\n
"They are cornered," Hamdan Mohamad, police chief in Kota
\nKinabalu, Sabah's capital, told The Associated Press. "We will
\ntrack them down, as this operation will continue indefinitely."<\/p>\n
Police have screened 6,102 immigrants since the operation
\nbegan on Tuesday and 1,245 found to be illegals have been
\ndetained, said senior police officer Mohamad Reduan Abdullah.<\/p>\n
"This crackdown will be a continuing process until we achieve
\nour target of zero illegal immigrants," he told AFP from the
\nstate capital Kota Kinabalu.<\/p>\n
Some 4,000 personnel from police, immigration and other
\ngovernment agencies are involved in the drive to rid Sabah --
\nwhich is near to the southern Philippines -- of an estimated
\n600,000 illegal immigrants.<\/p>\n
The crackdown coincided with a landmark people smuggling
\nconference which opened in Indonesia on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar, who attended the
\nconference, appeared unfazed by Indonesian President Megawati
\nSoekarnoputri's complaint there that some countries were taking
\nunilateral action to send economic refugees to Indonesia.<\/p>\n
"I think she is entitled to (say) what she wants to say.
\nCountries cannot act unilaterally. For instance, if we want to
\nremove people from here, we have to inform the Indonesians," Syed
\nHamid told reporters on his return to Kuala Lumpur on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Syed Hamid said his country has about one million illegal
\nimmigrants, or 5 percent of the population.<\/p>\n
"It is a burden on our social, economic and political
\n(systems)," he told reporters on the sidelines of an
\ninternational conference on people-smuggling on Indonesia's Bali
\nisland.<\/p>\n
Malaysia, with a population of 23 million people, has nagging
\nfears of being overrun by people fleeing the poverty and violence
\nbesetting its more populous neighbors.<\/p>\n
The country has around two million foreign workers, of whom
\nmost are Indonesia, and more than half are illegal.<\/p>\n
Malaysia depends on foreigners to work in factories,
\nplantations and construction sites, and as domestic servants.<\/p>\n
But increased unemployment and rising crime persuaded the
\ngovernment to crackdown on illegal immigrants, and Indonesians
\nhave borne the brunt.<\/p>\n
Malaysia last month said it would kick out hundreds of
\nthousands of illegals and whip any who tried to evade
\ndeportation.<\/p>\n
Philippine envoy to Malaysia Jose Brillantes was quoted by the
\nStar newspaper on Thursday as saying that Manila would speed up
\nthe documentation for Filipinos facing deportation.<\/p>\n
The newspaper said the authorities had also seized unspecified
\n"dangerous weapons" in a raid on a Filipino settlement near the
\ncoastal town of Lahad Datu.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Malaysia said on Thursday it was reviewing its
\npolicy of granting visa-free entry to some countries after
\npeople-smugglers took advantage of the policy to route their
\nAustralia-bound human cargo through the country.<\/p>\n
Indonesian and Australian officials have repeatedly identified
\nMalaysia as a transit point for Australia-bound Middle Eastern
\nasylum-seekers.<\/p>\n
They cross the Malacca Strait by small boat to Indonesia,
\nwhere they are placed on larger boats for frequently perilous
\nvoyages to Australia.<\/p>",
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