KL police detain 439 Indonesians

KL police detain 439 Indonesians

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Police detained 536 illegal immigrants,
most of them Indonesians, in a pre-dawn swoop on building sites
and housing estates in Shah Alam, capital of central Malaysia's
Selangor state yesterday.

Shah Alam deputy police chief Shair Mohamed Nor said 439 of
them were Indonesians while the rest were Bangladeshis, Burmese
and Pakistanis.

"The operation focussed on construction sites and housing
estates suspected to be hideouts of foreigners who entered the
country illegally," Shair was quoted by the Bernama news agency
as saying.

They were then taken to two detention centers.

Shair said the operation was carried out following reports of
foreigners heading to Shah Alam to work as construction workers.

Selangor's chief minister Muhammad Muhammad Taib last month
ordered a crack down on illegal settlements set up immigrants,
some of whom entered the country without valid permits.

Malaysia has enjoyed eight straight years of robust economic
growth, surpassing eight percent annually, leading to a shortage
of unskilled and semi-skilled workers in the plantation and
construction sectors.

More than 2.5 billion ringgit (US$1 billion) is remitted
abroad yearly by the 1.2 million legal foreign workers mainly
from the Philippines, Indonesia and Bangladesh.