Friday, January 15, 2010

Tougher penalties for hiring illegals

PUTRAJAYA: There will be no second chance for employers who hire illegal immigrants.
Come Feb 15, the authorities will throw the book at errant employers by also charging them under the the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act (ATPA).
Currently, errant employers only face charges under the Immigration Act, which would see them being fined RM5,000 for each illegal worker. They also face whipping for harbouring illegals.
Errant employers will now face longer jail sentences and heavier fines when they are also charged under the ATPA.
Immigration director-general Datuk Abdul Rahman Othman said harbouring or hiring illegal immigrants could be linked to offences under the APTA which include exploitation, debt bondage and slavery.
“These drastic measures are needed to curb the number of overstayers in the country.”
The department is now giving errant employers, including multinational companies, till Feb 15 to clean up their act, after which there will be no second chance.
He said during this period, the department would try to educate employers through associations, industries as well as fliers on the penalty for hiring or harbouring illegals.
“After that, we will go after them aggressively. They should come forward now because when we get them, charge them and push for maximum penalties, they cannot feign ignorance of the law," he said in an interview yesterday.
"Even if they come forward now and surrender their illegal workers, they would still have to face the law. They may get leniency from the department or from the court."
But there would be no leniency after Feb 15 as the chief justice, in a recent meeting with the department, had told prosecuting officers to push for the maximum sentence in each case, he said.
"We were told not to ask the court to use their discretion when sentencing those caught for hiring or harbouring illegals."
Rahman was responding to the issue of nearly 40,000 Indian citizens missing from Immigration records, stated by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to visiting Indian journalists on Tuesday.
Rahman said the department could not give the exact number of foreigners who were overstaying here as many could have left Malaysia through illegal channels.
He said operations to weed out illegal immigrants would also focus on those who came into the country on student passes.
Last month alone saw 6,261 student passes issued in Peninsular Malaysia, with 1,014 granted to those from China (see table A). Last year, Sabah issued 150 student passes while Sarawak issued 8,306.
Rahman said many had abused the RM60-a-year pass to avoid heavier levies. Those who work in the service sector pay RM1,800 a year.
The department last year arrested 46,900 foreigners and locals for Immigration offences while 73 employers were charged with hiring illegals. More than 30 employers were also arrested for harbouring illegals.
Rahman said the country was also losing significantly in cash outflow where reports in 2006 revealed that US$2.7 billion (RM9.18 billion) was channelled out to Indonesia alone.
He said the current maximum fine of RM3,000 for overstaying, was not enough of a deterrent.
"Take a person working in the illicit flesh trade who makes RM300 a day and overstays for 60 days. They would have earned RM18,000. After being fined that amount, they would still return home with RM15,000."
Rahman said the department was expected to ensure tourists' arrivals were not impeded by strict enforcement at entry points.
He, however, revealed that the department had last year imposed the "Not Permitted to Land" ruling on 25,084 foreign individuals (refer to table B).

tunku : the law is there but no stern action taken by the authorities.we can see thousands are working without permit.why and what make them to work freely without fear, may it be the employee or employer? we hope the authorities concern DARE TO TAKE ACTION on those employers who are hiring illegals.they should have gone after them aggressively long time ago and not after the pm told the media about those "missing" people.we hope this action won't be a seasonal one.

3 comments:

Ampatuan Jr said...

All these commotions about 40,000 missing Indians in Malaysia will soon be forgotten,swept under the carpet with a typical Malaysian style.Tapi saya pelik kenapa org yg paling penting dlm membawa masuk 'pelancong' guna VOA kini senyap sunyi seolah dia langsung tak tahu menahu benda ni.Common la Tg Adnan - our ex Tourism Minister, what say you?

Anonymous said...

Saudara Saudara Rakyat Malaysia:
Kita tak bolih salahkan polis atau immigresen atau MPI atau MAIP Jaip dan kerajaan tempatan dalam masalah KEBANJIRAN PATI, sebab ade orang lain,sama ade orang malaysia atau orang asing, yang sangat gembira dan untung dengan KEBANJIRAN PATI.
Izin say lontarkan pandangan melampau, bahawa apabila kite buka pintu rumah kita seluaas nya semenjak tahun 1989,tiada sesiape yang siasat latar belakang orang yang masuk pintu depan rumah kita.
Dasar negara kita adalah berasaskan:
a. murah hati
b. baik hati
c. tak cemburu
d. nak minta pujian dari negara asing.
Sambutan meriah di beri kpd semua yang sampai dengan ucapan ucapan yang jarang kita dengar apa bila kita melawat negara negara asing.
"welcome selamat datang velkomen dll".
20 tahun telah berlalu, dan kita nak salah kan pegawai polis atau immigresen ?
Anggota polis hanya ade 90,000 orang.
Immigresen ade kata lah 5,000 orang.
Jumlah kakitangan kerajaan pusat adalah 1,300,000.
Orang dari Indonesia ada dalam 2,200,000 orang yang sebut olih kedutaan nya.(anggaran aje)
Ade 89,000 orang pelajar asing di ipts ipta.
Warga afrika 56,000 orang
39,000 warga India dari Chennai hilang entah ke mana.
Jumlah pendatang mungkin cecah 3,200,000.
sapa tahu angka yang sebenar ?
Perempuan perempuan negara cina sanggup datang sini niaga tubuh di manjung,ipoh,kelang,pulau ketam,jalan segget, jalan alor,jalan pudu.
orang timur tengah datang sini hanya pikat pompuan melayu.
Mengaku jadi billionaire buat duit palsu lagi.
seribu macam cerita, bolih buat wikipidia PATI.
Dasar negara dah menyimpang dan di laksanakan olih jabatan yang kurang tegas kerana ada campur tangan tertentu.
Sebalik nya,lihat saje di England, ada 20,000 orang malaysia ,yang 95 % keturunan Cina,sudah tinggal lebih tempohmasa.
England segera ambil tindakkan nak halau mereka.
Tegas dan tahu cara dan terus buat dan ter agak agak ter agak agak dan bagi amaran tiap hari.
Manusia telah di beri amaran pun buat juga.
Berhenti lah bagi amran terus buat ,undng undang kita cukup kemas dan manatap.Kalau tidak mengapa mahkamah 2 kita penuh dengan kes saman ?
Kita berani sesam sendiri aje.
Dengan orang luar habis kecut semua.
Lihat Saudi, orang islam nak masuk untuk urusan umrah dan Haji.
Tapi cukup ketat di kawal sebelum dan lepas masuk.
Mati kutu kata kan.
Kita di semua pintu masuk Malaysia "welcome Welcome selamat datang huan ying velkomen dll kpd 26,500,000 pelawat dan "pelawat".
Tak bolih salah kan polis dan immigresen kalau tak dapat di bendong masalah warga asing..
Hala tuju kita ?
Kita tidak bolih benar kan Jawatan kuasa Kabinet dan 1,300,000 kakitangan kerajaan menentukan masa depan kita...
Pasti ada matlumat yang sangat tepat yang sedang di timbangkan olih Jawatan Kuasa, tapi sebenar nya kita memerlukan "LEADERSHIP" bukan "MANAGEMENT".
Kita perlukan "OUTCOMEs" dan bukan "Process atau procedure"
Kena order dan makan ROTI JANTAN!!!
Wajib ade "PARADIGM SHIFT"!
Bila nak serap 1,000,000 ahli RELA dan 100,000 ahli JDAM nak ganti 300,000 pekerja asing di sektor keselamatan ? Lama dah cakap.Masih dok cakap cakap cakap.

Siape akan ubah dasr ?
Hanya apabila isteri VVIP kena ngorat olih warga afrika di ampang point,jalan ampang,selangor baru kita nak memikir sesuatu dan sebuk polis ampang pereksa pasport ????
Polis balik , mula balik gagak terbang.
Dah lambat 20 tahun.
Cukup lah dengan amaran demi amaran demi amaran dan tak ter agak agak dan tak ter agak agak.
Nak tunjuk apa ?
Nak tunjuk kita ni ....
Baik ?
Murah Hati ?
Global ?
Universal ?
Suka di puji ?
Takut kena kutuk ?

changkat lobak.
arjuna

Tok Kemuning said...

The root of the problem is "how do they entered our country".

We could punish all the employers and let them be out of business.

The root of the problem remains "how do they entered our country".

Then we have no employer to hire them anymore (because most of OUR EMPLOYERS are out of business).

Our economy would get better as no more employer would hire them. Assuming that this is true as the government wish let say all of them leaving the country tomorrow. For sure our economy would get better as there are many jobs available (BUT no takers for sure). As we are moving up on a new scale of economy.

Still the root of the problem remain "how do they keep entering our country'.

Or are we saying we are unable to safe guard our own country from others to enter.

We need to fix the root of the problem. Remember what Azmi Khalid trying to do before and how many businesses he had buried under ground.

Still the root of the problem remain "how do they qualify to even enter this country".

What Nabil is saying is corret "LU FIKIR LAH SENDIRI".