The Selangor state government today denied that corruption and lax enforcement were the main reasons for the influx of illegal immigrants in the state.

State exco Mokhtar Dahlan was rebutting the remark made yesterday by Minister in the Prime Ministers Department Dr Rais Yatim who blamed poor enforcement, not the law, for the countrys illegal immigrant problems.

Rais remark was not based on any specific case but a generalisation without basis, said Mokhtar who is in charge of local government, housing and squatters, and environment.

He should produce some kind of evidence or lodge a complaint with the state government or call me.

We welcome any information from the public so that we can resolve the problem because although we cannot rid the state of illegal immigrants 100 percent, at least it wont be a big problem, he told malaysiakini today.

Mokhtar said the tight monitoring from the top level prevents any openings for abuse of enforcement powers or corruption, adding that the state government was aware of the problem and has a very comprehensive plan in place to tackle illegal squatters and businesses.

Task force

Last week, we set up a special task force headed by Mentri Besar Dr Mohd Khir Toyo. It includes the state police chief, local government enforcement officers and personnel from the Immigration Department and RELA (Peoples Volunteer Corps).

Two other exco members on board are Abdul Fatah Iskandar in charge of entrepreneur development, youth and SMIs, and Mohd Sharif Jajang in charge of infrastructure, information and Malay reserve land.

The task force has been set up to deal with the illegal immigrant problems, which includes conducting raids on areas suspected of harbouring illegals.

Our first meeting was last night and we will raid anytime now, he said.

Mokhtar said the state governments direct supervision will ensure that there will be no opportunities for its officers to take coffee-money or under-the-counter payments, which migrant workers alleged contributed to their anger and frustration.

There is no room for any officer to fool around. In fact, if at all anyone is found to be involved, they will not escape [prosecution], he assured.

Mokhtar said manpower shortage was also hampering enforcement efforts. He cited the case of Kampung Limau Manis in Sepang where the authorities have not been able to rid the area of illegal immigrant squatters despite having conducted 34 raids over the last two years.

To counter this, the state government will soon start a 24-hour beat base manned by the police, immigration and RELA officers at the village.

Consistent policies

Meanwhile, Tenaganita director Irene Fernandez today proposed that the Human Resources Ministry take over the recruitment and employment of migrant workers, leaving the Immigration Department to focus on passports and the issuance of work permits after the ministrys approval.

Similarly, the department will determine the continuance or cancellation of the work permits, she said in a statement issued today.

The ministry should take responsibility of the post-arrival orientation programme and become a key player in the development of the pre-departure programmes in the sending country.

Supporting plans to establish one-stop agencies for recruitment, training and screening of foreign labour, Fernandez said it must be accompanied by a comprehensive bilateral or multilateral agreement between Malaysia and the sending countries.

She said Malaysia must reflect consistency in its policies on foreign labour and reciprocate efforts taken by sending countries with a similar one-stop agency, as well as set the terms and conditions in line with International Labour Organisation conventions and the United Nations convention 90 on the rights of all migrant workers and those of their families.

She said while Bangladesh has more than 600 recruiting agencies, South Korea has only recognised six recruiting agencies and a limited number of diagnostic centres, thus having a more effective monitoring system.

Both South Korea and Singapore have also set up training institutes in the sending country both for skills development and orientation programmes, and this has worked well in Bangladesh.

Fernandez said that migrant-bashing by the authorities is merely a digression from the core concerns that include accountability, transparency and a rights and humane approach to meeting the growing demand for foreign labour.