Migrants who enter Malaysia illegally ‘not poor’ says senior cop

 

Prosecutors should seek whipping for migrants who repeatedly enter Malaysia illegally, says a senior police officer.

PETALING JAYA: A senior police officer who had proposed whipping for migrants who repeatedly entered Malaysia illegally has dismissed a claim that such migrants were poor labourers.

Hazani Ghazali, director of internal security and public order at Bukit Aman, said these migrants would pay syndicates RM1,300 to smuggle them into the country.

These migrants were not poor as they could afford to pay that amount, he said. “To come to Malaysia, they have to bring thousands of ringgit, that means they have the money,” he told FMT.

Hazani said this in response to former minister P Waytha Moorthy, who in criticising the call to whip the undocumented migrants, described them as “poor labourers who are merely trying to earn an honest living.”

Hazani Ghazali.

Hazani defended his controversial proposal, which has drawn brickbats from an opposition MP and migrant rights groups, saying the law provided for it. “There’s a provision for that offence in the Immigration Act,” he said. “He (Waytha) is a lawyer. Is he not aware of this?”

The Immigration Act provides a maximum penalty of a RM10,000 fine, or up to five years’ jail, or both, and up to six strokes of the rotan for illegal entry.

Hazani said the authorities could recommend that prosecutors could charge the offenders under Section 6 (3) of the act. He stressed that his proposal is for repeat offenders.

He said there were three laws that could be used against syndicate members who smuggled in the migrants – the law against human trafficking, the security offences act, and the law against money laundering. - FMT