The Sabah Malaysian Trade Union Congress' (MTUC) stand on not declaring yet another blanket amnesty, only a qualified one, for illegal immigrants has won partial backing.

While Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Bernard Dompok agreed that repeat illegal immigrants should be declared persona non grata (banned), he said they should be allow to freely leave the country.

merdeka statement launch 020807 bernard dompok "I am all for it. However, illegal immigrants without documents should be allowed to leave the country without fear of prosecution," he said in Kota Kinabalu yesterday.

"I see no reason why they should be prevented from leaving if that's what they want."

He was giving his take on differences between MTUC and its Sabah chapter on the blanket amnesty proposed by the union's national headquarters for illegal immigrants in the country.

The last blanket amnesty, from July 2004 to February 2005, saw only 230,000 illegal immigrants exit the country.

The minister however stopped short of saying that illegal immigrants who benefitted from previous blanket amnesties should not be let off scot-free.

Sabah MTUC wants such illegal immigrants to be prosecuted as deterrence and strict quotas to be set on the number of foreign workers in any particular sector.

The union is agreeable that other illegal immigrants be offered amnesty.

Instead, Dompok suggested that the relevant authorities such as the police and immigration ensure that illegal immigrants are not allowed back.

He did not say how the authorities are expected to prevent illegal immigrants from re-entering the country.

Malaysia, stressed Dompok, needed foreign workers but not those who come in through the back door - without valid travel documents, entry permits, work passes and dependents’ permits.

"If they come in with proper papers, it will be for their own good," he said.

They don't fear our laws

Sabah MTUC reiterated that a blanket amnesty would prove that the federal government is not serious enough on the issue of illegal immigration especially in Sabah.

"The problem is getting harder to solve because illegal immigrants can escape (through blanket amnesties) and return to work illegally in the country," fumed Sabah MTUC chairperson Simon Yayun Lamdas.

prisoner immigrants behind bars 220605 "Illegal immigrants do not fear our laws because they know they won't be prosecuted."

Already, one glaring example is that employers of illegal immigrants are not prosecuted although there are laws against this under Sections 55B and 55E of the Immigration Act 1959/63 (amendment 2002).

These sections provide for punitive fines, jail and whipping but in the few cases prosecuted so far, the courts were reluctant to impose the latter punishments, citing "the courts have a duty to protect the welfare of the legal workers and can’t have their employers languishing in jail."

Lamdas added that many illegal immigrants resorted to crime in the state when they find that they cannot make ends meet on the depressed wages. This is especially true when they bring over their families and extended families as well.

population boom in sabah 061008 Sabah MTUC's other worry is that the presence of the lowly-paid illegal immigrants is working against the interest of locals who can't leave home and are seeking jobs as well in the state.

The MTUC plan is that a blanket amnesty would allow many of the 2.1 million illegal immigrants to return home voluntarily and save the RM4,000 per person in documentation processing fees which they don’t have with them.

For Malaysia, their return would stop clogging the courts, reduce the number at detention centres, free the enforcement authorities and reduce the spread of communicable diseases and acquire international goodwill for putting a stop to the exploitation of illegal labour.

The return of the illegal immigrants is expected to free jobs for locals and legal foreign workers "and not result in a collapse of the economy as anticipated."

It is not known whether the 2.1 million illegal immigrants cited by MTUC includes the figures for Sabah and Sarawak.

1.7 million foreigners in Sabah

In Sarawak alone, there are an estimated quarter million illegal immigrants to match a similar number legally employed in the state. Sarawak is seldom mentioned in the news for illegal immigrants.

sabah illegal immigrant In Sabah, Federal Special Task Force figures show there are 610,104 foreigners in the state. This includes 120,114 who are registered but yet to pay their 50 to 75 percent discounted levy after a regularisation exercise that ended on Oct 31.

The figures for the number of illegal immigrants who failed to register for the regularisation exercise is not known.

The Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission has figures showing that there are an estimated 1.7 million foreigners in Sabah alone. This presumably includes those who failed to take advantage of the regularisation exercise.

The chief complaint with the MACC in Sabah from NGOs is that red tape, the expense involved through broker agencies and corruption is forcing many otherwise would-be legal workers to resort to human traffickers and people smugglers to enter the state illegally.

The unions in Sabah are yet to comment on this claim but acknowledge that they are besieged with calls from illegal immigrants who either face various problems with their employers or want to go home but don’t have the money to do so.

Besides, they fear prosecution by the authorities or persecution from those on the take.

Illegal immigrants are not allowed to join local trade unions but their legally employed counterparts may do so on an individual basis.