Indonesian, RP illegals allowef to stay in Sabah
Indonesian, RP illegals allowef to stay in Sabah
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Malaysia's Sabah state and Labuan island
will allow about 400,000 undocumented workers from Indonesia and
the Philippines to legitimize their status but will ask other
illegal aliens to leave by April 1, it was reported here
yesterday.
"With the exception of Indonesians and Filipinos, the other
illegal immigrants will be given until April 1 to leave the
state," Sabah's chief minister Yong Teck Lee was quoted as saying
by the daily New Straits Times.
Under the "regularization" scheme, Indonesians and Filipinos
are to be given six months from March 1 to sign up with their
embassies or consulates in Malaysia in order to stay in Sabah and
the nearby territory of Labuan, an offshore financial center.
Valid travel documents would allow Indonesians and Filipinos
to continue staying in resource-rich Sabah and Labuan provided
they are employed. Those unemployed would have to find a job
within three months from March 1 or face deportation.
"An operation to track down unemployed illegal immigrants
would be carried out after the first three months of the
regularization period," Yong said.
The move is part of labor-starved Malaysia's efforts to curb
illegal immigration, which has been blamed for rising social
problems. Foreign workers have provided a vital source of cheap
labor for the agriculture, construction and manufacturing
sectors.
About half of the two million foreign workers in Malaysia are
believed to be illegally staying in the country. With a local
labor pool of only eight million people, Malaysia is believed to
have the world's highest ratio of foreign labor to local workers.
Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia are members of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations. They share extensive
maritime borders where illegal travel is difficult to check.
The other sources of illegal workers in Malaysia are
Bangladesh, Myanmar, India and Pakistan. Malaysian officials have
estimated that some 200,000 Bangladeshi illegals are in the
country.