Failure to sing Negaraku sees woman arrested

PETALING JAYA: Immigration officers decided to arrest a woman during a raid at a block of flats in Pudu after she failed to sing “Negaraku”.

The woman, aged 20, did not have any documentation on her but had insisted she was a Malaysian, offering various excuses on why she should not be detained, including claiming that she was pregnant, New Straits Times reported.

But the jig was up the moment the officers asked her to sing the national anthem to prove she was Malaysian.

The woman was one of 21 illegal immigrants arrested at the flats. The immigration department said the operation at the flats was one of two separate raids in Kuala Lumpur last night.

Another 25 illegal immigrants were nabbed at an entertainment outlet located in Jalan Kia Peng.

“Most of those arrested were UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) card holders. Of the total, we arrested 18 Myanmar nationals, one Indian, one Indonesian and one Pakistani.

“Most of them rented rooms at the flats. Some units had added illegal partitions, which is an offence under Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) rules,” immigration department director-general Mustafar Ali was quoted as saying by NST.

He added that his officers targeted the entertainment outlet as they had received information that there were immoral activities taking place at the premises.

“The team examined 40 people at the outlet and 25 were arrested. They were 20 Thai women, two Uzbekistan women and two Bangladeshi men,” Mustafar was quoted as saying.

The immigration DG added that any information coming out of the investigations into those arrested would be shared with other enforcement agencies as well as government departments. -FMT