Malaysia fights illegal immigrants

Mon, 02 Mar 1998 | Source: AP

KUALA LUMPUR (AP): A regional official wants 45,000 army reservists to help police keep illegal immigrants from entering the country, a newspaper said yesterday.

Shahidan Kassim, chief minister of the northwestern state of Perlis, has urged the Defense Ministry to mobilize the Territorial Army to secure coastal areas and land borders, the New Sunday Times reported. That army is made up of men and women who have received military training in off hours from work.

In the past two weeks, 3,036 illegal immigrants have been arrested for entering the country. Nearly 9,000 illegal immigrants were caught in all of last year.

A senior marine police officer was quoted by another newspaper, the Star, as saying the number of illegal immigrants has jumped sharply because of the poor economic situation in neighboring countries.

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