Tough action needed against illegals

Tough action needed against illegals

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

The government will have to find a balance in dealing with the
illegal immigrants in such a manner that it will be seen to be
cooperating with its neighbors without at the same time upsetting
the people.

At the request of Indonesia and the Philippines, the
government has decided on a soft approach in handling the
situation instead of using tougher action in flushing out the
illegal immigrants.

This was done to maintain goodwill and cooperation among Asean
members and in this case, Indonesia and the Philippines have the
most number of their nationals in Malaysia without proper travel
documents or work permits.

Indonesia has cited the tsunami disaster as the reason for its
request and to give it more time to deal with this mammoth
tragedy in which more than 200,000 of its citizens in the Aceh
province were killed and nearly a million made homeless by the
giant waves.

As for the Philippines, it would like more time for its
officials in Sabah, where their countrymen are concentrated, to
issue documents for the illegal immigrants to make the short trip
home.

Unfortunately, it had been reported that its officials were
unable to trace many of the Filipinos in their places of
residence in the state.

This merely proves that these illegal immigrants are not
willing to return home just yet.

While Malaysians realize the importance of maintaining good
relations with its closest neighbors at all levels, they would
like the government to look after their interests and welfare
too.

They would like all the illegal immigrants to be sent home
without further delay and that only those whose services are
really required to meet local labor shortage be allowed to
remain, provided they have been issued with work permits and are
of good health and character.

The health issue is a worrying one as some of these workers
have brought in very deadly diseases such as malaria and leprosy,
which were no longer medical threats here.

The fact that these people were cleared medically showed the
serious flaws existing in the screening process on the Indonesian
side.

This ineptitude is being compounded by the fact that these
foreign workers would need to get a medical check-up locally only
after a year.

The government would like such medical examinations to be done
earlier, otherwise those carrying such deadly diseases would have
time to spread them to those they came into contact with.

But the government cannot go on indefinitely using the soft
approach to persuade the illegal immigrants to come forward and
return home voluntarily without fear of punishment.

Though this offer may attract some of the illegal immigrants,
a significant number of them may opt to stay put.

The government must be prepared for this eventuality and the
action to be taken against them.

It must come up with the necessary measures to deal with the
recalcitrant ones to show that it does not pay to break local
laws, immigration or others as well.