Malaysia moves to arrest illegal foreign workers

Malaysia moves to arrest illegal foreign workers

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuter): Malaysia yesterday started a nationwide blitz to round up and arrest foreigners without valid work- permits, immigration and police officials said.

The move came at the end of a Jan. 31 extended deadline set by the government for about one million illegal workers to leave the country or face prosecution.

The government had delayed until Feb. 1 the enforcement of amendments to the Immigration Act which provide for harsher punishment including stiffer fines, jail sentences and whipping for certain offenders.

Authorities had earlier set a Dec. 31, 1996, deadline to register and legalize illegal foreign workers in the country. There are an estimated two million foreign workers in Malaysia, but only about 700,000 have registered.

Government officials have said that of the 700,000, about 350,000 were from Indonesia, 200,000 from Bangladesh, 100,000 from India and 50,000 from China and other countries.

"Since they have not taken up the offer (to leave) they will now face prosecution," the Immigration Department's deputy director-general Aseh Che Mat told reporters on Friday.

Booming Malaysia, with a population of about 21 million, is worried about social disorder and crime resulting from the presence of a large foreign-worker community.

Police, with the help of immigration officers, will step up checks at construction sites and foreign-worker settlements to round up illegal workers, officials told reporters on Saturday.

Since last week, immigration officers have started door-to- door visits in residential areas to check the work permits of foreign domestic helpers.

The army has also increased patrols along Peninsular Malaysia's northern border with Thailand to stem the inflow of illegal workers.

Army beach patrols have also started along stretches of the Malacca Straits used by foreigners to enter the country.

Under the amended immigration act, employers who hire illegal immigrants can be fined between 10,000 ringgit (US$4,024) and 50,000 ringgit for each employee.

Employers with more than five such workers face a mandatory prison term of up to two years. Those found guilty of bringing in workers illegally and illegal workers who re-enter Malaysia after being deported could facing whipping.