I write this in reply to Parthiban Yahambaram's letter ('Whipping foreign workers - a shame to decent Malaysians', Dec 11) who is against whipping the illegal immigrants. Whipping is barbaric, but so is burning detention camps and causing hurt to the guards who have to bear the brunt of these illegal immigrants' actions.

Foreign workers who wish to come to Malaysia must go through the proper channels. These illegal immigrants are not bothered about adhering to the law. Some of the illegal immigrants come over to look for work, but there must be proper control over them. Look at the social problems that they have brought to this country - illegal squatters mushroom in almost every state and crimes caused by illegal immigrants are so common that no one seems to bat an eyelid.

Our authorities have been extremely patient and lenient in treating these illegal immigrants. Once caught, they have a free ticket either by the Malaysian government or the Indonesian Navy to send them back to Indonesia. Before you know it, they will be back in Malaysia.

Sometimes I fail to understand why we are wasting taxpayers' money to solve this problem. At the detention camp they are fed and given accommodation while they wait their turn to be deported. The recent burning of a detention camp was because they wanted to be deported back early so that they can celebrate Hari Raya, and the irony of it all is they got their wish. Why are the authorities not doing anything to apprehend the culprits?

I fully support the change in the immigration laws to include whipping as a deterrent to the illegal immigrants. Singapore introduced such laws a long time ago and I think it is an effective deterrent.