KL, Jakarta to discuss influx of immigrants
KL, Jakarta to discuss influx of immigrants
KUALA LUMPUR (AP): The Malaysia-Indonesia Joint Commission will discuss a sudden influx of Indonesian illegal immigrants that is alarming Malaysia, Malaysian Foreign Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said yesterday.
"The mass exodus of illegal immigrants from Indonesia seems unabated despite an understanding between both countries on stemming it," the national news agency Bernama quoted Abdullah as telling reporters at Kepala Batas, 300 kilometers (185 miles) northwest of Kuala Lumpur.
At past commission meetings, he added, Indonesia was asked to help curb the migration of illegal workers to Malaysia.
He said, however, that because of Indonesia's long coastline, it would be quite difficult for authorities there to check its citizens from illegally sneaking out.
In the past two weeks, about 3,000 illegal immigrants landed on the west coast of peninsular Malaysia, compared to 9,000 in all of last year.
On Thursday night, 355 Indonesian illegal immigrants landed in 27 separate groups.
In an operation code-named Clean Sweep - the largest mobilization so far against illegal immigrants - 500 police officers, 500 soldiers and 50 immigration officials joined forces yesterday.
They descended on a sleeping squatters' village 10 kilometers northeast of Kuala Lumpur overcrowded with illegal Indonesian immigrants and yielded another 200 illegal immigrants.
"We look at this as a very serious matter," said Dell Akbar, the deputy director of internal security and public order. "Earlier actions taken by us were not serious enough."
Inspector-General Rahim Noor, Malaysia's top police officer, told the newspaper New Straits Times on Friday: "We expect the problem to get more serious as the economic situation in Indonesia gets worse."
Malaysian now is using the Internal Security Act, which allows detention without trial, against people accused of bringing in or harboring illegal immigrants.
A policeman and a truck driver have already been detained under the act.
Meanwhile, Tajol Rosli Gazali, the deputy minister of home affairs, said yesterday that illegal immigrants would be sent home speedily to reduce the costs of keeping them in overcrowded detention centers.
They should be repatriated within two weeks, he told the national news agency Bernama in Malacca, 150 kilometers (90 miles) southwest of Kuala Lumpur.
He said it cost about US$ 2.50 a day to keep an alien in a detention center. If a person were held for three months, "imagine the cost to Malaysia," he added.
Previously, he said, the cost was shared with Indonesia, but it was difficult to ask Indonesia now as it was facing financial turmoil.
Overloaded on rickety boats, illegal Indonesian immigrants pay an average of 500 ringgit (US$ 130) for a dangerous twilight trip across the Strait of Malacca.
The voyage from the Indonesian island of Sumatra to Malaysia's west coast is less than 50 kilometers (31 miles) in some parts, but the waters are treacherous and the shoreline is becoming increasingly unfriendly.
A rash of capsized boats have turned up. There are no figures on how many have drowned in transit.
Indonesian intelligence reports recently estimated that 5,000 people were waiting along Sumatra's shores and on nearby smaller islands to enter Malaysia.
Malaysian authorities fear the numbers are even higher and show no signs of declining.
"There is no way of knowing the exact number," said Dell. "There's a need to be more vigilant."
Malacca's police chief, Farid Mahmud, announced Friday that 100 patrol boats had begun searching the strait and 12 suspected island hideouts carved with secret tunnels by "middlemen" who smuggle the immigrants to Malaysia.
Police also are stationed along the shore and throughout Malaysia's coastal towns, also on 24-hour watch.
The country's 10 existing detention centers, which hold up to 2,000 people each, are reportedly filled to capacity.
As Chief Inspector Azmay Rohauy of the anti-riot division watched 80 people filing into a police truck bound for a detention center, he shook his head.
"It's really unfortunate," said Azmay, whose grandfather emigrated from Indonesia two generations ago. "Maybe they came over at the wrong time."