June 26, 2009
KLUALA LUMPUR: A large-scale operation on illegal immigrants will be conducted in Sabah soon, the deputy prime minister said.
Datuk Seri Najib Razak said the illegals would be returned to the countries that would accept them.
“Those who are classified as illegal immigrants will be sent back,” he said after chairing a meeting of the cabinet committee on illegal immigrants in Sabah at Parliament yesterday.
“We will have meetings with neighbouring countries such as Indonesia and the Philippines on whether they can accept their people back.”
About 300,000 illegal immigrants have been repatriated from Sabah since 1990.
Najib said the operation would start after a meeting with Barisan Nasional component parties, especially those from Sabah, to obtain feedback and explain the measures taken by the government to tackle the problem of illegal immigrants in the state.
He said the security presence in the state would be boosted as a precaution.
“We will add more checkpoints in the appropriate areas,” he said.
He said the cabinet committee discussed an overview of the illegal immigrant situation in Sabah and the steps to be taken to tackle the long-standing problem.
“The government wants to show its seriousness in reducing this problem in line with the aspirations of the people of Sabah,” he said.
He said the focus was on Sabah as the illegal immigrant problem there was acute.
Asked whether the action was taken following numerous requests from Sabah MPs, Najib said the government had ascertained it was a serious problem and the people of Sabah wanted action to be taken.
He said among the factors that caused the inflow of illegal immigrants to Sabah was economic opportunity.
“The borders are porous and, traditionally, people do not recognise borders. Some came in legally, but overstayed.”