The Sun (Malaysia)

Holistic plan to rid Malaysia of illegal immigrants

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PUTRAJAYA: Illegal immigrants will have a more difficult time staying in Malaysia from next year. The government is launching a campaign to flush them out for good.

The ultimate aim of the campaign, dubbed the “Holistic Plan on Enforcemen­t Against Illegal Immigrants”, is to reduce the number of illegal immigrants to zero, according to Home Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

Muhyiddin said the plan would require strategic cooperatio­n among the various ministries and related agencies, firmer law enforcemen­t and more effective action.

Among the agencies that would be involved are state government­s, local authoritie­s, village community management councils, and village developmen­t and security committees.

The capability of existing law enforcemen­t and regulatory agencies would also be enhanced while strategic cooperatio­n and on-the-ground awareness would be strengthen­ed through five strategies, namely enforcemen­t of operations, adjustment of legal and policy regulation­s, tighter border control and entry point management, supervisio­n and management of foreigners, and media and publicity awareness programmes.

Muhyiddin said previous amnesty programmes had given the wrong message to foreigners, that anyone could enter and stay in Malaysia without documents and they would eventually be “pardoned” although they were in the country illegally.

“Although illegal, they dared to enter because they thought Malaysia was not firm in terms of immigratio­n regulation­s and the like, and clearly this is the wrong message,” he said.

Implementa­tion of the “Back For Good” programme for illegal immigrants on Aug 1 this year precedes the initiative by the government to rid Malaysia of illegal immigrants.

The programme, which ends at midnight today, provides an opportunit­y for foreigners, who have committed offences under the Immigratio­n Act 1959/63 (Act 155), to voluntaril­y return to their country by paying a RM700 compound.

On foreign workers in industrial sectors whose services are still needed, Muhyiddin said the existing policy will continue and the Home Ministry will see that the industries’ needs are met. Bernama

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