Illegal immigration is a genuinely national issue, and resolving it requires a national commitment not just on health care but also border control, law enforcement and other resources.
– Jon Kyl, American politician
LATELY there were frequent trips sending those so-called registered Indonesians from Serian and Kuching to Bintulu and Miri based on reliable information.
They would be going in one or two cars on contract; with the boss (employers) paying the drivers well over the last few months. This was revealed by a friend of the regular transporters of the immigrants. Their destination would be the employers in Bintulu and Miri.
These immigrants are deemed to have been registered under agents in the state and as such are thought to be safe to deliver to the potential employers in the two urban centres.
However, recently the Malaysian Immigration Department (JIM) successfully brought down a foreigner smuggling syndicate with the arrests of 63 foreigners in Bintulu.
And on top of that four immigration officers were also nabbed in the same manoeuvre that was made after three months of gathering information.
An operation codenamed ‘Op Kenyalang’ by a team of officers from Putrajaya JIM Intelligence and Special Operations Division and Sarawak JIM operation officers was conducted around 9.45 pm on Feb 17.
Immigration Director-General Datuk Seri Khairul Dzaimee Daud said in a statement the team managed to arrest 63 Indonesians, including 26 women, aged between 22 and 52 years.
“A 38-year-old Indonesian man believed to be the syndicate leader, was arrested while managing a group of foreigners at a transit house.
“Thirty foreigners were arrested at the transit house while, 33 more were arrested during inspections on two buses around Bintulu.
“In the same operation, four immigration officers suspected of being involved with the syndicate, were arrested,” he said, adding that cash amounting to RM25,000 and 3 million Indonesian Rupiah were also seized.
Khairul stated that the foreigners are people who have been blacklisted in the department’s system from entering Malaysia and all of them had flight tickets to Kuala Lumpur.
He said the modus operandi of this syndicate is to organise the entry of foreigners who have been blacklisted with the help of immigration officers.
The syndicate manages 30 to 40 people for each entry. The immigration officers will then place a security stamp on the foreigner’s passport to ensure their safe journey to their destination.
“Those foreigners, who have received this security stamp, will then be taken to transit houses before going to the airports and continue their journey to Peninsula Malaysia through domestic routes.
“According to preliminary investigation, the syndicate have been operating for almost eight months since the country’s border gates were opened,” he said.
He said foreigners who want to enter Malaysia, are required to pay around RM5,000 to RM6,000 per person to the syndicate and as such this syndicate is believed to make a profit of around RM80,000 a month.
All 63 foreigners were arrested on suspicion of committing an offence under the Immigration Act 1959/63 for entering Malaysia illegally.
For the four immigration officers and the leader of the syndicate, they will be investigated under Section 26A of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Migrant Smuggling Act 2007.
Khairul stressed that the department will continue to track down the syndicates involved in illegal activities and strict action will be imposed on those found to have violated the relevant Acts.
In a recent case, three female Indonesian employees in a Siburan food outlet managed to escape from their employer who kept their passport and ill-treated them.
They had to surrender themselves to the Indonesian Consulate for help.
A local man familiar with the case said the three managed to escape from the premises where they were kept captives by jumping from the first floor of their ‘prison’.
One of them, a woman aged 28, nearly broke her leg so had to sustain injuries but managed to escape using a private vehicle to report themselves to the Indonesian Consulate in Kuching.
So, despite having proper documents these three are among the big number of immigrants who suffer under stringent supervision by their employers.
These are just one of the cases under the same stringent rule because others are unreported or kept under wrap.
Malaysia has a strict immigration rule on immigrants but a lot of them from the other side of Borneo kept on coming as they are being enticed by the good income they earn in Sarawak.
These include those going via agents and pay them heavily while some are smuggled in and thus coming in illegally. Over the last few weeks, there have been such cases. These foreigners come in willingly as they are promised jobs with good and steady incomes in Malaysia.
The views expressed here are those of the columnist and do not necessarily represent the views of New Sarawak Tribune.
