CRACKDOWN ON MIGRANTS IN MALAYSIA
77 more held in fresh drive
MPs in the region slam KL
AGENCIES
Malaysian authorities have raided a construction site and detained 77 foreigners as part of a fresh crackdown on illegal immigration prompting alarm yesterday from lawmakers across the region who said the campaign was victimising the vulnerable, report agencies from Kuala Lumpur and Port Dickson.
Immigration officials said more than 3,100 foreigners and 63 employers who allegedly hired workers illegally have been detained since a sweep began July 1. The crackdown is targeting migrants who come to Malaysia illegally to work mostly low-wage jobs in the construction, plantation and manufacturing industries.
As one of Southeast Asias richest countries, Malaysia has long attracted workers from nearby nations such as Indonesia, the Philippines, Bangladesh and India.
Immigration officials who conducted the midnight raid Tuesday and early Wednesday at the construction site in northern Negeri Sembilan state found 77 of the 85 workers had no valid documents. Most of them are Indonesians, living in wooden make-shift dormitories at the site. Reporters were notified of the raid and invited to go along.
The 77 workers were handcuffed and sent to the
immigration depot, where they are expected to be deported, officials said.
The new sweep followed the expiry of a deadline to register foreign workers from 15 countries. Officials have said only 161,000 of 600,000 illegal migrants who are eligible to apply for work permits had done so by June 30.
Malaysia, which has a population of 31 million, relies heavily on foreign labor to fill menial jobs shunned by locals. There are some 2 million registered foreign workers in Malaysia and another million believed to be working illegally.
The government regularly seeks to flush out the illegal
workforce, but this had previously caused labor shortages in certain sectors.
Immigration chief Mustafar Ali has said that some 30,000 illegal migrants were deported this year. He warned that employers who hire illegal migrants could be caned, in addition to facing prison time and fines.
AFP adds: Malaysia has rounded up over 3,000 undocumented migrant workers this month in a major crackdown, prompting alarm yesterday from lawmakers across the region who said the campaign was victimising the vulnerable.
The relatively developed country is a magnet for migrant workers from across Asia, but several million are believed to be undocumented.
Bangladeshis represent the largest group among those detained, with substantial numbers also from Indonesia and Myanmar. In the latest raid late Tuesday, scores of foreign workers at a construction site in the coastal town of Port Dickson were rounded up.
The clampdown has caused alarm among activists and in neighbouring countries, and a group representing current and former lawmakers from across Southeast Asia added their voice to the concern.
A desire to decrease the number of undocumented workers in the country can never be an excuse to further victimise the vulnerable, said Cambodian lawmaker Mu Sochua, a board member of the ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights.
While Malaysia has a legitimate need to address the fact that so many migrants find themselves without proper paperwork, it must ensure that basic human rights are respected for all people at all times.
Aegile Fernandez, director of prominent Malaysian migrant rights group Tenaganita, said the real culprits were unscrupulous agents who extorted money from foreign workers in exchange for bringing them to the country, leaving them saddled with huge debts.
Malaysia would not have developed so much if not for migrant workers. We should thank them and not handcuff them, she told AFP.
More than 60 employers who allegedly hired illegal foreign workers have also been arrested. Migrant workers typically do jobs spurned by locals, such as on construction sites and palm oil plantations.
