Kuala Lumpur (VNA) – Malaysian authorities began a campaign on July 1 to nab illegal foreign
workers nationwide, especially in states accommodating crowds of guest workers.
The crackdown, named Hari Hari Operasi (HHO),
was conducted following the midnight deadline for E-Card (enforcement card)
applications on June 30.
Thirty minutes after the end of the E-card
programme, a team of 90 enforcement personnel of the Immigration Department led
by its Director General Mustafar Ali stormed hostels of workers of two
factories in Klang district of Selangor state.
A total of 51 workers with no valid documents,
hailing from Bangladesh, Nepal, Indonesia and Myanmar, were arrested during the
raid.
Mustafar said the arrestees were brought to the
department’s headquarters for further investigations and settlement, adding
that Malaysia will conduct daily raids to ensure that there are no more illegal
foreign workers in the country.
As many as 315 workers, including 295 men and 20
women, working for three factories in the Taman Gembira industrial zone in
Johor state, and 97 others at a construction site in Kota Baru city, Kelantan
state, were also detained during the raids on July 1.
The same day, Deputy Prime Minister-cum-Home
Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi reiterated that there would be no extension to
the registration period.
The E-Card, which was launched on February 15
this year, functions as a temporary confirmation of employment for illegal
workers, which replaces valid travel documents from their respective countries.
This allows employers ample time to complete the process of registering their
illegal workers.
Statistics show that only 140,746 illegal
foreign workers in Malaysia were provided with E-cards, as compared with
600,000 counted by the Immigration Department.-VNA