Malaysia announces reprieve for illegals
Malaysia announces reprieve for illegals
Julia Yeow, Agence France-Presse, Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia announced a last-minute reprieve for illegal immigrants who can prove they are willing to leave the country but warned others face jail and caning when an amnesty deadline expires on Wednesday.
"There is an extension of one month for those who want to go home but could not get travel documents and tickets in time," Immigration Department director general Mohamed Jamal Kamdi said Tuesday.
He said that since the introduction of the amnesty on March 21, only 265,589 of some 600,000 illegal workers, most of them from Indonesia, had responded to the voluntary repatriation program and returned home.
Mohamed warned remaining migrants not to see the extension as a means of remaining in the country as those caught without proof of any effort to secure a ride home would be "severely punished".
New laws which come into effect on Aug. 1 provide for a mandatory six months in jail and possibly up to six strokes of the cane for illegal immigrants.
Currently, offenders face up to five years' jail or a fine of not more than 10,000 ringgit (US$2,632), but courts mostly impose fines.
"Starting Thursday, those who are caught and who have ignored the chance for them to leave during the amnesty will be severely punished," Mohamed said, adding that a special pass would be issued to enable authorities to tell which migrants were genuinely home-bound.
As the deadline approaches thousands of desperate illegal workers are camping out at the southern Johor state's Stulang Laut jetty, one of the major exit points in the country, hoping to get a ferry home.
Some 60,000 illegal workers have already been sent home from the jetty, which is said to be the most popular of the country's 24 exit points, and immigration officials are expecting thousands more to converge there.
Mohamed said the government had requested an additional 15 Indonesian vessels to ease the load of ferrying back the mass of illegal workers who have come forward.
"We knew that this would happen, the last-minute rush, and so we have discussed it with ferry operators and decided that there should be an extension of 30 days to clear everyone home," said Zainon Salleh, the department's enforcement director.
Zainon said that Indonesians, who make up the bulk of Malaysia's migrant population, accounted for 83 percent of those who have returned home, while Indians made up the next largest group at 17,764.
Bangladeshi workers were the third largest at 16,006, followed by immigrants from Myanmar and the Philippines.
Malaysian police have placed riot squads on guard at all major exit points in anticipation of security problems posed by the large number of migrants as the deadline for the amnesty draws closer.
Malaysia, which is home to some 750,000 legal foreign workers, blames illegal immigrants for contributing to a growth in crime and other social problems.