Malaysian Govt offers amnesty to illegal workers

BANGKOK - The Malaysian Government is offering illegal foreign workers a chance to return home without facing action. Authorities have, however, said they will increase the levy based on the number of immigrant labour and their skill levels in order to regulate their inflow.

The amnesty programme has yielded productive results in the past with 230,000 workers taking up offers.

“After the amnesty offer expires, we will act against all those who harbour foreign workers without permits,” The Star quoted Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin as saying.

The government will be bearing the expense of sending back the workers only partially and employers would also be held responsible, he added.

On the introduction of biometric system, Yassin said: “The biometric identification system is necessary to ensure that we record the entry of all visitors and workers into the country. It will include work to update and coordinate all hardware, software and data managed by different agencies and ministries.”

“We will leave it to the Home Ministry, namely the Immigration Department, to implement it as soon as possible,” he added. (ANI)