100,000 illegals registered under rehiring programme

Almost 66,000 of them were Bangladeshis, followed by 19,000 Indonesians.

KUALA LUMPUR: More than 100,000 illegal foreign workers were registered by 31,706 employers under the Rehiring Programme from Feb 15 to May 19 this year.

Home Deputy Minister Nur Jazlan Mohamed said they comprised 66,000 Bangladeshis, followed by Indonesians (19,000), Nepalis (3,777), Indians (3,669), Pakistanis (2,615), Vietnamese (2,472), and other nationals (4,933).

“The re-hiring programme is to enable or make it easy for employers to register their workers,” he told the Dewan Rakyat sitting here today.

He was replying to a question from Anuar Abd Manap (BN-Sekijang), who asked for an update on the status of the rehiring programme.

Nur Jazlan said as of May 2, the Immigration Department had conducted 4,535 operations and checked 81,547 workers.

He said of the total, 24,104 illegal workers, 482 employers and six syndicate agents were detained for various offences under the Immigration Act 1959/1963.

“Through these operations, the government hopes more employers and illegal workers will come forward to participate in the programme because those who are detained by the Immigration Department will be prosecuted.”

Replying to a supplementary question from Anuar on whether the government would set a ratio of local workers to foreign workers to prevent a monopoly by foreigners in certain areas, he said normally the ratio was 20% foreign workers to 80% locals.

– BERNAMA