Illegal immigrants became Malaysianised workers

Ops Bersepadu currently ongoing in Sabah has seen a total of 312,837 pilaks (illegal immigrants) mostly from Indonesia and the Philippines have been registered as legal workers in Sabah under first phase.

Over three hundred thousand sound big but it just a tip of an iceberg. Before the Ops Bersepadu kick off, millions of those illegal immigrants has slipped out of Sabah temporarily. They will return from their hiding when the authority has left their settlement.

There is no mention of what the authority will do in the next phase of Ops Bersepadu. The authority (if there care to read) could do the following:
* destroy any abandoned shelters of the illegal immigrants so that they do return to the same place.
* re-screen the 312K registered illegal for criminal records. Evicts them immediately if they have any criminal record.
* frequent patrol on known immigrant settlements and watch out for new faces.

Related posts:
* RM50 million for illegals eradication in Sabah
*

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From TheStar

Sabah legalises 312,837 illegal immigrants
By MUGUNTAR VANAR

KOTA KINABALU: A total of 312,837 illegal immigrants have been registered as legal workers in Sabah under first phase of Ops Bersepadu as it moves into the second phase to flush out remaining illegal immigrants.

State Secretary Datuk Sukarti Wakiman said Indonesians made up the largest group with 217,367 registering while 95,470 Filipinos registered during the three month programme that allowed them to legalise their stay in Sabah without going back.

During the operations that begun on Aug 7, 192,889 of 312,837 registered as foreign workers while the remaining were their family members, he said.

Under the first phase, the authorities allowed foreign workers to obtain their countries’ passport locally and apply for a work permit with employers sponsoring them. They did not have to go back to their home country.

The response from the employers was good.

The objective of the operations - to document illegal foreign workers and clean up Sabah of illegal immigrants - was showing positive results, he said.

Sukarti, who is director of the integrated operations, said that over 30,000 migrants were checked in 460 areas that included villages, squatters, building sites, plantations and factories between Aug 7 to Nov 5.

Of the 30,000 screened, 2,714 were found to be illegal immigrants without any document or employer.

He said that, during the period, a total of 3,218 illegal immigrants were deported bringing the total to 16,321 up to Nov 5 this year.

Sukarti said under the second phase, the authorities would close in on groups that had evaded the authorities during the first phase of operations.

He said the second phase of the operations would begin in the west coast of the state and checks for illegal immigrants will continue until the problem no longer existed.