There has been a mixed reaction, including among civil servants, to the latest amnesty offer to foreigners staying without valid documents in this country to leave without having to face the law.

The current amnesty to illegals from Indonesia, Philippines, Bangladesh, China and India runs from Oct 29 till Nov 14 and may be extended following the new Indonesian leader Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's appeal to his Malaysian counterpart Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

While most people in Sarawak feel the move is a good one as it will reduce the present number of illegal immigrants - largely Indonesians estimated at 100,000 - , many also fear that it may encourage people to sneak in through the long porous border between Sarawak and Indonesian Kalimantan.

"If they know the amnesty is not a one-off thing but comes on and off, would that not encourage people to sneak in and stay by trying to hide from the law, work or commit crimes, and wait until the next amnesty offer?," a senior manager of a trading company said.

A government officer who spoke on condition of anonymity said it was not making the relevant government agencies' job any easier too.

"On one hand, people are required to go through the normal channels, produce their passports, visas and have them stopped before being allowed to come in, on the other because of lax control along the border people without any document at all simply walk in, stay for as long as they like, do whatever they want to do, and wait for a safe passage home when amnesty comes," he added.

But the amnesty has helped to reduce the number of illegal immigrants, especially Indonesians from Kalimantan.

Immigration officers manning the Tebedu international check-point told malaysiakini that about 2700 Indonesians have taken advantage of the amnesty offer since Oct 29.

Not stopped

Every day they come in small groups and individuals by taxis and vans from various parts of Sarawak to go home through Tebedu.

A team of immigration officers are operating from a special desk outside the immigration passport counter at the exit point.

They are either with travel documents issued by the Indonesian consulate in Kuching or without any papers at all, and Malaysian immigration officers take their particulars down, such as names, the length of their stay in Sarawak, and let them proceed on to the Indonesian side.

On the way, following appeal from the Indonesian Consul, police personnel manning road blocks have been asked not to stop illegal immigrants if they are on the way either to the consul office to apply for travel documents or direct to Tebedu, even without papers on them.

"This is amnesty," one young lady immigration officer said.

"Sometimes you hear rather pathetic stories. They have taken advantage of the amnesty offer to escape from some employers who have not paid them regularly or who have withheld their passports,' she said.

There was one such case of an Indonesian youth who had been promised a minimum salary of RM400 but was paid less, and had his passport kept by his employer.

When asked at the immigration check-point for his passport, he simply declared it "lost".

Even without documents, they were allowed to proceed as long as their personal particulars were given - mainly their names, jobs and whether they ever held passports.

Simple procedure

The procedure is so simple - approach the immigration post, show your travel documents (if any) or just give your personal particulars, and you'd be allowed to go home.

Only the security control personnel are around to ensure that you report to the immigration officers before you leave Malaysian territory to go home on the other side of the border.

One youth who tried to go direct, probably fearing he might be arrested, was stopped by the security personnel and directed to report to the immigration officers which he did.

Another young girl who said she had worked for nearly a year in a coffee-shop in Kuching produced a travel document just issued by her consulate in Kuching.

She gave her basic personal particulars, walked over to one side and pressed her thumb on a ink pad and then on a piece of paper twice, and went home.

It is estimated that the majority of the 100,000 illegal immigrants, including those whose passports have already expired, are working in logging and plantation companies spread throughout Sarawak. The rest work as waitresses/waiters, cooks and dish-washers in coffee-shops and restaurants and as maids.

TONY THIEN is malaysiakini 's Sarawak-based stringer.