S'pore to curb illegal migrants

S'pore to curb illegal migrants

SINGAPORE (AFP): The Singapore government expressed concern yesterday at the prospect of more Indonesians trying to slip illegally into the island and warned anyone caught can be jailed up to six months and caned.

"The problem of illegal immigrants from Indonesia has been of serious concern to the government in the last few years," a statement from the home ministry said in response to media queries.

"The situation is likely to get even more serious as the economic situation in Indonesia deteriorates. More illegal immigrants will try to slip into Singapore from Indonesia," it added.

Indonesia, with more than 200 million people, is now undergoing its worst financial crisis in decades, triggering fears of an exodus of economic migrants to neighboring countries also undergoing a slowdown.

Hundreds of thousands of Indonesians already work in Malaysia, and thousands are employed in Singapore, mostly as construction hands and domestics.

The Singapore home ministry said local police and immigration officers were stepping up enforcement at sea and on land to stop illegal immigrants and overstayers.

"Work sites and other congregation points are being checked," it said, adding that an island-wide operation on March 5 netted 91 illegals of various nationalities.

"The punishments are severe -- imprisonment of up to six months and three strokes of the cane. Offenders are repatriated after serving their sentence," it said.

Singapore police last week noted that a consecutive nine-year trend of falling crime rates could be upset this year by an increase in crimes committed by foreigners who sought to enter the city-state because of economic hardship at home.

"A possible scenario is that the unemployment in neighboring countries may result in many people seeking to come to Singapore and some may turn to crime, " Police Commissioner Khoo Boon Hui said.

Indonesians were the second largest group of foreigners who were arrested in 1997 for various offenses, excluding illegal entry into Singapore, police said.

The government said state prosecutors will also seek deterrent sentences for employers and people who harbor illegal immigrants and overstayers.

The home ministry said more illegal immigrants from other countries were also slipping into the country via southern Malaysia's Johore state.

"We would need more cooperation between the police in Singapore and Johore to deal with this problem," it said.