Indonesians eye KL coasts

Sun, 04 Feb 2001 | Source: DPA

KUALA LUMPUR (DPA): More than 20,000 Indonesians are believed to be waiting at various ports facing Johor's coasts for the right time to enter Malaysia, news reports said Saturday.

Wan Aziz Wan Mahmud, assistant director of Malaysia's Immigration Department, said that figure was the same as the number of Indonesians stopped at port check points in their country as they awaited boats to ferry them illegally to Malaysia.

Johor, Malaysia's southern most state, is merely a hop, skip and jump from Indonesia. Its marshy coastline and numerous fishing villages make perfect landing sites for illegal immigrants and their smugglers.

Wan Aziz said the influx of illegal immigrants from Indonesia rose significantly when there was civil and economic unrest there in 1997 and he expects the same to happen now given the instability of President Abdurrahmam Wahid's government.

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