12 theSun | TUESDAY NOVEMBER 25 2008

news without borders

One week to
repatriate
retrenched workers
WITH the threat of
retrenchments looming
large amid the global credit
crunch, the Immigration
Department has issued a
stern warning that employ-
ers who do not repatriate
foreign workers within a week
of retrenching them will be
fined or jailed.
Immigration department
enforcement director Datuk
Ishak Mohamed said if
employers do not immediately
repatriate the workers they
retrench, these unemployed
foreigners could become a
threat to public security.
“I am warning employers,
once they lay off foreign
workers, they have to repat-
riate them within a week or
face stern action,” he told
Nanyang Siang Pau in an
interview.
Ishak said there are 2.2
million foreign workers in the
country, with a majority in the
construction industry.
He also said an estimated
one million illegal foreign
workers are employed in
various sectors in the country
and they too, if left jobless,
would have a big impact on
public security.
Ishak said the department
had no plans for a massive
operation against illegal
immigrants in the new year
but smaller scale raids would
be carried out more frequently.
“At present, we conduct
raids three times a week.
Press Digest
by Kong See Hoh
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
These will continue next year,
but more often.”
Employers were also
reminded that beginning next
year, those found harbouring
illegal immigrants would
have their business licences
revoked. Appeals from errant
employers, with the exception
of those who come forward,
would not be entertained,
Ishak said.
Meanwhile, Human
Resources Minister Datuk
Dr S. Subramaniam said his
ministry would work with the
Home Ministry to ensure that
laid off foreign workers are
repatriated.
He told the daily the min-
istry was paying close attention
to the possibility of foreign
workers being retrenched.
“This (retrenchment of
foreign workers) is going to be
a serious problem as it affects
public security. I will discuss
with the Home Ministry the
setting up of a joint mechanism
to ensure employers repatriate
the foreign workers they
retrench.”
On the fate of some
500,000 Malaysians working
in Singapore, Subramaniam
said the latest reports he had
received showed there had
been no retrenchments so far.

Raids not keeping

Chinese women out
DESPITE frequent raids on
Chinese nationals involved in the
flesh trade, an increasing number
are entering the country.
Immigration records show
that an average of 1,286 Chinese
women enter Malaysia every day.
The department believes that
while many are genuine tourists,
some are here to make their “pots of
gold” by prostituting themselves.
A conservative estimate puts
their earnings at RM10,000 a
month each.
Immigration department en-
forcement director Datuk Ishak
Mohamed told Oriental Daily News
in an interview that Chinese wom-
en make up the majority of those
picked up in vice raids, followed by
Thai nationals and Filipinas.
“Obviously, some of the Chinese
women entering Malaysia on tour-
ist visas are engaged in immoral
activities,” he said.
The department has also found
that these women would have
made their quick bucks by the end
of their permitted month-long stay
before moving on to a neighbour-
ing country to continue to ply their
trade.
“We learnt from Chinese prosti-
tutes caught in raids that they are
able to make RM10,000 in a month,
or an average of RM300 or more
a day.
“Even during the off-peak sea-
son, they can still make RM200 a
day, an income comparable to that
of a managerial level white-collar
worker.”
Ishak said the women do not
keep their earnings but remit
them home as they leave for
another country, before returning
to Malaysia two to three months
later. This process is repeated
every few months, he said.
Ishak said although the women
do not stay for long, their presence
had led to the break up of many
families and the spread of sexually
transmitted diseases.
He said a total of 1,352 Chinese
nationals had been detained in vice
raids up to October this year.
“Of those arrested, 920 were
found to have abused their visa,
182 were without documents and
122 had overstayed.”
Ishak said immigration regula-
tions allow Chinese nationals to
visit Malaysia for up to four times a
year, and each time stay 30 days.
Chinese nationals entering the
country on social visit visas must
have with them a cash equivalent
of RM1,500 (as proof that they have
the ability to spend at least RM50 a
day) or a credit card in lieu of cash.
Ishak said that while in the past
many young Chinese women had
entered the country on student
visas to engage in vice activities,
action taken against colleges
whose “students” were caught in
raids had put a stop to this.