Stopping illegal immigrants

V.K. Chin, The Star, Asia News Network, Selangor, Malaysia

The latest amnesty for illegal immigrants is another attempt to reduce the number of such foreigners in the country. It has been granted to enable the Muslims to return home to celebrate Hari Raya with their families.

It is being offered therefore for compassionate and security reasons. Those who are skeptical about the initiative may feel that it should not be on a regular basis or it will only encourage more foreigners to take advantage of this loophole in future.

It is a fact that there are too many illegals in the country and there are only two ways to deal with them. One is to crack down on them by conducting a nation-wide campaign to ferret them out.

But this is quite a huge task as it will require a lot of time and resources to mount such a massive undertaking as they are spread out throughout the country.

In fact during the last crackdown, thousands of personnel were used to track down the illegal and the result could only be termed as mixed.

During such raids, these foreigners will play hide-and-seek with the enforcement officers especially those living in the outlying areas such as estates and construction sites.

An amnesty is therefore a less messy way of dealing with such people. During this period, no action will be taken against them when they present themselves for deportation.

The only conditions are that they must have at least a temporary document to show proof of identity and they have to pay for the tickets home.

It is clear that from the response, this scheme is working as thousands of them are coming forward to take advantage of this new offer.

As far as the government is concerned, this is just a sweetener to encourage such foreigners to return on their own with ferry transport being provided by the Malaysians.

After the amnesty is over, the government will start another drive to detain those who have refused to go home during the grace period.

The government had planned such a campaign a few months earlier but was asked by Indonesia to postpone it until after the October presidential election.

The amnesty was offered during the interim period and would end on Nov. 14 though it is possible that there might be a short extension.

One reason for an extension is that many of those who have accepted might not be able to go home because of lack of transportation.

It is interesting that embassies of those countries involved are helping to sort out the documents to assist their countrymen who have overstayed in Malaysia.

It is easier to deal with the illegals from Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines because they are our immediate neighbors.

The ferry services are mostly for the Indonesians and the Filipinos in peninsular Malaysia and Sabah while those from the sub-continent will have to depend on air services for their homeward journeys.

The fear that the mass exodus may affect the labor situation is unfounded. The government has stated quite clearly that those who are returning home under the amnesty can return later as legal workers.

However, what the government should ensure is that with the departure of so many illegal immigrants, it must take measures to prevent them from returning illegally.

The amnesty will lose its impact if those who left should be able to enter the country by illegal means especially by land or sea. More patrols will be required to reduce the number of foreigners arriving in this manner.