Illegal immigrants in Malaysia
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Illegal immigration to Malaysia is the cross-border movement of people to
Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
under conditions where official authorisation is lacking, breached, expired, fraudulent, or irregular. The cross-border movement of workers has become well-established in
Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...
, with Malaysia a major labour-receiving country and
Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
and the
Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...
the region's main labour-sending states. Managing cross-border migration (labour,
refugee A refugee, conventionally speaking, is a displaced person who has crossed national borders and who cannot or is unwilling to return home due to well-founded fear of persecution.
and
human trafficking Human trafficking is the trade of humans for the purpose of forced labour, sexual slavery, or commercial sexual exploitation for the trafficker or others. This may encompass providing a spouse in the context of forced marriage, or the extrac ...
) has become an issue of increasing concern in Malaysia and its international relations.


Definitions

The term "illegal", when applied to "migration" and "migrant", has been replaced in recent years by "irregular" and "undocumented" on the grounds that "illegal" is inaccurate, degrading, and prejudicial. Key institutions have adopted the new terms: the UN General Assembly (1975), the International Labour Organization (2004), the European Parliament (2009), and the Associated Press (2013) and other US news agencies. The new terms are rarely used in official and academic discourse in Malaysia, where the popular term is "illegal immigrant". The term "illegals", elsewhere perceived as outdated and pejorative, is regularly used in Malaysian media. The terminology is also obscure because Malaysian law (Immigration Act 1959/63) does not distinguish between undocumented economic migrants, refugees, asylum seekers and trafficked people; all are designated as illegal immigrants. The term "illegal immigrant" designates a variety of groups who are all liable to arrest, detention and deportation for immigration offences: * People who enter clandestinely, without travel authorisation * Children born to immigrants whose births have not been registered * Those seeking asylum, refugees, and trafficked victims * Those admitted with proper authorisation but who breach the terms of admission (e.g., by entering on student or tourist visas and then working) * Those admitted with authorisation to work, but who breach the terms of that authorisation (e.g., by changing their work or employer) * Those admitted with authorisation to work, but whose work permit is wrongfully cancelled by employers in a labour dispute * Those admitted with proper authorisation, but whose authorisation to stay has expired * Those admitted with authorisation to work but whose work authorisation has expired * Refugees in Sabah who were admitted for a temporary stay under the IMM13P (which must be renewed annually), but who fail to renew * Those possessing counterfeit or forged authorisation * Those possessing official authorisation which was obtained fraudulently


Background

Patterns of migration and the roles and responses of governments in the region concerning migration are rooted in the region's history. Present-day Malaysia has been a migration crossroads, where borders were lacking or permeable.


Pre-colonial migration

Malaysia's first generations of migrants were
indigenous peoples Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...
, the
Orang Asli Orang Asli (''lit''. "first people", "native people", "original people", "aborigines people" or "aboriginal people" in Malay) are a heterogeneous indigenous population forming a national minority in Malaysia. They are the oldest inhabitants of ...
, believed to have been part of the first wave of migration from Africa about 50,000 years ago or more-recent Asian evolution. The
Malay Peninsula The Malay Peninsula (Malay: ''Semenanjung Tanah Melayu'') is a peninsula in Mainland Southeast Asia. The landmass runs approximately north–south, and at its terminus, it is the southernmost point of the Asian continental mainland. The area ...
developed from port towns which thrived on trade routes from China to India and hosted the next migrants as merchants settled in the ports, some assimilating into the local communities. By the fifth century AD, networks of these towns had evolved into organised political spheres of influence defined by their centre rather than their borders. At the periphery, control is less certain. Borders may be permeable and control sometimes overlaps; areas might be under several powers, or none. During the second-century
Langkasuka Langkasuka was an ancient Hindu-Buddhist kingdom located in the Malay Peninsula. The name is Sanskrit in origin; it is thought to be a combination of ''langkha'' for "resplendent land" -'' sukkha'' for "bliss". The kingdom, along with Old Ke ...
kingdoms, the eighth-century
Srivijaya Srivijaya ( id, Sriwijaya) was a Buddhist thalassocratic empire based on the island of Sumatra (in modern-day Indonesia), which influenced much of Southeast Asia. Srivijaya was an important centre for the expansion of Buddhism from the 7th t ...
empire and the 15th-century
Malacca Sultanate The Malacca Sultanate ( ms, Kesultanan Melaka; Jawi script: ) was a Malay sultanate based in the modern-day state of Malacca, Malaysia. Conventional historical thesis marks as the founding year of the sultanate by King of Singapura, Parames ...
, the centre of power shifted between Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula. In addition to their link by political rule, Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula were also linked by intermarriage between the Sumatran and Peninsular ruling elite (which led to the migration of their followers). Other significant early migrants are those now classified as ''Melayu Anak Dagang'' (non-Malays who migrated to the region and later assimilated into Malay culture, distinct from ''Melayu Anak Jati'': ethnic Malays who are native to the region, including the Minangkabau people from
Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...
and the
Bugis people The Bugis people (pronounced ), also known as Buginese, are an ethnicity—the most numerous of the three major linguistic and ethnic groups of South Sulawesi (the others being Makassar and Toraja), in the south-western province of Sulawesi, ...
from
Sulawesi Sulawesi (), also known as Celebes (), is an island in Indonesia. One of the four Greater Sunda Islands, and the world's eleventh-largest island, it is situated east of Borneo, west of the Maluku Islands, and south of Mindanao and the Sulu Ar ...
, Indonesia. Based on Malaysia's long history as a society of migrants, researchers at University Sains Malaysia say: "It is, however, pertinent to put the record straight that migration of people to the artificially created enclave known as Malaysia today dated back to centuries. Malaysia like many ex-colonies is artificial ..." Researcher Anthony Reid draws another conclusion from this history – that Malaysia, like the US and Australia, is best viewed as an immigrant society:


Refugees and asylum-seekers

Malaysia, like most of its Southeast Asian neighbours, did not sign the 1951 UN Refugee Convention and maintains that newly-arrived aliens are illegal immigrants rather than refugees. However, since the early 1970s it has allowed Muslims involved in a conflict in their own country (especially the
Moro people The Moro people or Bangsamoro people are the 13 Muslim-majority ethnolinguistic Austronesian groups of Mindanao, Sulu, and Palawan, native to the region known as the Bangsamoro (lit. ''Moro nation'' or ''Moro country''). As Muslim-majority ...
of the southern Philippines) to seek refuge in Malaysia. In 1975, Malaysia accepted thousands of
Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...
n Muslims who had fled the
Pol Pot Pol Pot; (born Saloth Sâr;; 19 May 1925 – 15 April 1998) was a Cambodian revolutionary, dictator, and politician who ruled Cambodia as Prime Minister of Democratic Kampuchea between 1976 and 1979. Ideologically a Marxist–Leninist a ...
regime. During the
Indochina refugee crisis The Indochina refugee crisis was the large outflow of people from the former French colonies of Indochina, comprising the countries of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, after communist governments were established in 1975. Over the next 25 years and ...
, Malaysia allowed a small number of Cambodian Muslims to immigrate (assisted by the Malaysian Muslim Welfare Organisation, funded by the
United Nations High Commission for Refugees The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, local integrat ...
(UNHCR) and the Malaysian government. In 1980, Malaysia began admitting
Rohingya The Rohingya people () are a stateless Indo-Aryan ethnic group who predominantly follow Islam and reside in Rakhine State, Myanmar (previously known as Burma). Before the Rohingya genocide in 2017, when over 740,000 fled to Bangladesh, an ...
and Acehnese Muslims who were fleeing the
persecution Persecution is the systematic mistreatment of an individual or group by another individual or group. The most common forms are religious persecution, racism, and political persecution, though there is naturally some overlap between these term ...
in
Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...
and
insurgency An insurgency is a violent, armed rebellion against authority waged by small, lightly armed bands who practice guerrilla warfare from primarily rural base areas. The key descriptive feature of insurgency is its asymmetric nature: small irregu ...
in Indonesia. Malaysian Deputy Minister of Home Affairs
Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar Wan Junaidi bin Tuanku Jaafar ( Jawi: وان جنيدي بن توانكو جعفر; born 1 February 1945) is a Malaysian politician who served as Minister in the Prime Minister's Department for Parliament and Law from 2021 to 2022. He was the ...
said in 2015 that his ministry has told the UNHCR several times that "Malaysia is not a signatory to its convention on refugees", and the United Nations should send refugees to another
Third-World The term "Third World" arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either NATO or the Warsaw Pact. The United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Western European nations and their allies represented the " Firs ...
nation. Jaafar also said that refugees and migrant workers needed to observe Malaysian law in the country. According to Deputy Foreign Minister
Reezal Merican Naina Merican Reezal Merican bin Naina Merican (Jawi alphabet, Jawi: ; born 29 July 1972) is a Malaysian people, Malaysian politician and banker who served as the Minister of Housing and Local Government (Malaysia), Minister of Housing and Local Government i ...
,


Immigration management


Domestic politics

According to a National Registration Department (NRD) official, 60,000 illegal immigrants in the east Malaysian state of
Sabah Sabah () is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah borders the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and the North Kalimantan province of Indone ...
received
Malaysian identity card The Malaysian identity card ( ms, kad pengenalan Malaysia), is the compulsory identity card for Malaysian citizens aged 12 and above. The current identity card, known as MyKad, was introduced by the ''National Registration Department of Malaysia ...
s (MyKads); such allegations are known as
Project IC Project IC is the name used in Malaysia to describe the allegation of systematic granting of citizenship to immigrants (whether legal or otherwise) by giving them identity document, identity cards and subsequently its current iteration, the ''MyKa ...
. This was done through an ethnic connection to people in certain Malaysian occupations (such as the NRD, politics or security forces). A syndicate from Pakistan has mainly Pakistani clients, and syndicates from Myanmar and Indonesia have their own clients. Filipinos with identity documents brought family members to Sabah. An officer of the Eastern Sabah Security Command said that the
corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense which is undertaken by a person or an organization which is entrusted in a position of authority, in order to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's personal gain. Corruption m ...
of local authorities and the issuance of fraudulent identity cards played an important role in the increase of crime in Sabah. Former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has said that illegal immigrants long resident in Malaysia should not be barred from citizenship. According to researchers Myfel Joseph Paluga and Andrea Malaya Ragragio of the
University of the Philippines Mindanao The University of the Philippines Mindanao (also referred to as UPMin or UP Mindanao) is a public research university, serving as the sixth constituent unit of the University of the Philippines System. UP Mindanao is the only constituent unive ...
, the flood of migrants from Mindanao to Sabah was partly encouraged by Sabah politicians who "wanted to be the Sultan of Sulu" after the fall of the
United Sabah National Organisation The United Sabah National Organisation ( ms, Pertubuhan Kebangsaan Sabah Bersatu; abbrev: USNO) was a political party in North Borneo and later Sabah, Malaysia. The widely known Sabah's Muslim indigenous especially Suluk- Bajau ethnic based ...
(USNO) and
Sabah People's United Front Sabah People's United Front or in Malay ''Parti Bersatu Rakyat Jelata Sabah'' is more commonly known by its abbreviation BERJAYA, was a political party based in the state of Sabah, Malaysia. BERJAYA was formed by former United Sabah National Orga ...
(BERJAYA) administrations. Following the rampant
Islamisation Islamization, Islamicization, or Islamification ( ar, أسلمة, translit=aslamāh), refers to the process through which a society shifts towards the religion of Islam and becomes largely Muslim. Societal Islamization has historically occurre ...
and Muslims migration led by USNO chief Mustapha Harun, the Muslim population in Sabah drastically increased with negative perception from the native indigenous towards the Islamic religion also increased as it have been endangering the local culture and practice of the indigenous. As part of the Islamisation of Sabah state, Malaysia affords shelter around Sabah to Filipino Muslims escaping from the conflicts between
Philippine government The Government of the Philippines ( fil, Pamahalaan ng Pilipinas) has three interdependent branches: the legislative, executive, and judicial branches. The Philippines is governed as a unitary state under a presidential representative and d ...
and their fellow separatists in their homeland of
Mindanao Mindanao ( ) ( Jawi: مينداناو) is the second-largest island in the Philippines, after Luzon, and seventh-most populous island in the world. Located in the southern region of the archipelago, the island is part of an island group of ...
. The Eastern Sabah Security Command Security Coordinating Intelligence Officer said that although the foreigners remained in Sabah, their loyalty to their homeland (Mindanao and Sulu Archipelago) in the Philippines never swayed and they brought
drugs A drug is any chemical substance that causes a change in an organism's physiology or psychology when consumed. Drugs are typically distinguished from food and substances that provide nutritional support. Consumption of drugs can be via inhalat ...
,
smuggling Smuggling is the illegal transportation of objects, substances, information or people, such as out of a house or buildings, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations. There are various ...
and
piracy Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...
. The Filipinos from this region are reportedly vengeful and ill-tempered and disputes often result in shooting and bloody feuds ("a culture they call
Rido A feud , referred to in more extreme cases as a blood feud, vendetta, faida, clan war, gang war, or private war, is a long-running argument or fight, often between social groups of people, especially family, families or clan, clans. Feuds begin be ...
"). During the influx of the
Vietnamese boat people Vietnamese boat people ( vi, Thuyền nhân Việt Nam), also known simply as boat people, refers to the refugees who fled Vietnam by boat and ship following the end of the Vietnam War in 1975. This migration and humanitarian crisis was at its h ...
, the Malaysian government felt that they would threaten its national security and racial balance; most refugees resemble
Malaysian Chinese Malaysian Chinese (; Malay: ''Orang Cina Malaysia''), alternatively Chinese Malaysians, are Malaysian citizens of Han Chinese descent. They form the second largest ethnic group after the Malay majority constituting 22.4% of the Malaysian po ...
, resulting in quick repatriation. The Malaysian government blamed the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
, accusing it of causing the
Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
and a massive influx of refugees to Vietnam's neighbours. Some Sabah Muslim MPs and State Assembly members, such as
Rosnah Shirlin Rosnah Abdul Rashid Shirlin (born 10 July 1972) is a Malaysian people, Malaysian politician who served as Special Advisor to the Minister of Health (Malaysia), Minister of Health Khairy Jamaluddin from September 2021 to November 2022. She serve ...
and Abdul Rahim Ismail, were aware of the Filipino Muslim problem. According to Shirlin, Ismail agreed: The
Royal Commission of Inquiry on illegal immigrants in Sabah The Royal Commission of Inquiry on illegal immigrants in Sabah was formed on 11 August 2012 to investigate the problems relating to citizenship and immigrants in the state of Sabah in Malaysia. The inquiry is closely related to Project IC, the al ...
investigated the granting of citizenship to illegal immigrants. Former National Registration Director Mohd Nasir Sugip said that he was part of a secret operation, Ops Durian Buruk (Operation Rotten Durian), during the early 1990s in which the Election Commission of Malaysia and former Deputy Home Minister
Megat Junid Megat Ayub Megat Junid bin Megat Ayub (8 December 1942 – 24 January 2008) was a Malaysian politician and direct descendant of Megat Terawis, a Bendahara of Perak. Biography Junid was born in Teluk Intan in 1942. Politics Megat Junid was a teacher ...
instructed his department to issue national identity cards to foreigners to change Sabah's voting demographics. The names of 16,000 illegal immigrants were changed by the instruction of the Sabah Election Commission. Former Sabah NRD director Ramli Kamarudin said that former Sabah Chief Minister
Osu Sukam Tan Sri Datuk Seri Panglima Osu bin Sukam ( Jawi: اوسو بن سوكم; born 19 February 1949) is a Malaysian politician who served as the 12th Chief Minister of Sabah from March 1999 to March 2001, Member of Parliament (MP) for Papar from ...
was present when Megat Junid gave instructions to carry out the project IC exercise. A Filipino man said that he received an identity card without applying for it, and Indian and Pakistani immigrants said that they received identity cards less than 10 years after they arrived in Sabah during the 1980s. The irregularities reportedly angered Sabahan natives, including those in neighbouring
Sarawak Sarawak (; ) is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia. The largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak is located in northwest Borneo Island, and is bordered by the M ...
. The Christian
Dayak people The Dayak (; older spelling: Dajak) or Dyak or Dayuh are one of the native groups of Borneo. It is a loose term for over 200 riverine and hill-dwelling ethnic groups, located principally in the central and southern interior of Borneo, each ...
are stateless, without birth certificates, while the newly-arrived illegal immigrants can obtain Malaysian identity cards in a short time. The Malaysian government reportedly favours Muslim asylum-seekers.


National security

In 2008, the Sabah deputy chief minister said that some illegal immigrants attempted to become Malaysian security-force members with fake identity cards. A Sulu militant in Sabah was a Malaysian
police corporal The United States police rank#United States, police-rank model is generally quasi-military in structure. A uniform system of insignia based on that of the US Army and Marine Corps is used to help identify an officer's seniority. Ranks Although th ...
with family in the southern Philippines who was believed to have aided militants in illegally entering and leaving the state. A security guard from
Tawau Tawau (, Jawi: , ), formerly known as Tawao, is the capital of the Tawau District in Sabah, Malaysia. It is the third-largest city in Sabah, after Kota Kinabalu and Sandakan. It is located on the Semporna Peninsula in the southeast coast of t ...
in Sabah killed a bank officer in
Subang Jaya Subang Jaya is a city in Petaling District, Selangor, Malaysia. It comprises the southern third district of Petaling. It consists of the neighbourhoods from SS12 to SS19, UEP Subang Jaya (USJ), Putra Heights, Batu Tiga as well as PJS7, PJS9 ...
, Selangor during a robbery. The security guard had a fake identity card, and was later identified as an Indonesian from Sulawesi.
Lim Kit Siang Lim Kit Siang (; born 20 February 1941) is a Malaysian politician. He is the longest-serving leader of the opposition in Malaysia, having held the position for a total of 29 years on three separate occasions. He is also former Secretary-Genera ...
asked how the security guard obtained a MyKad, enabling him to work at the bank: In addition to Sabah, the border in the Straits of Malacca between
Peninsular Malaysia Peninsular Malaysia ( ms, Semenanjung Malaysia; Jawi: سمننجڠ مليسيا), or the States of Malaya ( ms, Negeri-negeri Tanah Melayu; Jawi: نڬري-نڬري تانه ملايو), also known as West Malaysia or the Malaysian Peninsula, ...
and
Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...
enabled Indonesian immigrants to illegally enter the country; in 2014, an overloaded migrant boat sank.


Human trafficking

Malaysia,
Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...
and
Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...
were listed in the third and lowest tier of the
US Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other ...
's 2014
Trafficking in Persons Report The Trafficking in Persons Report, or the TIP Report, is an annual report issued since 2001 by the U.S. State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons. It ranks governments based on their perceived efforts to acknowledge a ...
. The country has made little progress to combat the exploitation of foreign migrant workers subjected to forced labour and those recruited under false pretenses and coerced into sex work. Rohingya refugees, seeking a better life in Malaysia, are frequently victimised by human traffickers who confine, beat and starve them and demand ransoms from their families. Many Filipinas, promised good jobs in other countries by brokers in the Philippines, have been trafficked to Malaysia and are vulnerable to detention by Malaysian authorities for illegal entry. Vietnamese and Chinese traffickers have shifted their prostitution rings to Malaysia, making Vietnamese women the largest number of foreign prostitutes in the country (followed by Cambodian women). Traffickers usually offer victims good-paying jobs in Malaysia; when they meet a trafficker (posing as a manager), they are imprisoned,
rape Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ag ...
d and forced into sex work. Chinese traffickers kidnapped children, maimed them and used them to beg in the streets of
Kuala Lumpur , anthem = '' Maju dan Sejahtera'' , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = , su ...
. Malaysia is an electrical-parts manufacturing centre, and large companies such as
Panasonic formerly between 1935 and 2008 and the first incarnation of between 2008 and 2022, is a major Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation, headquartered in Kadoma, Osaka, Kadoma, Osaka P ...
and
Samsung The Samsung Group (or simply Samsung) ( ko, 삼성 ) is a South Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. It comprises numerous affiliated businesses, most of them united under the ...
(as well as the
McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechri ...
fast-food chain) were accused of poor treatment of workers. Cambodian housemaids have reportedly been poorly treated, and a Cambodian maid detained in a Malaysian immigration centre said that she saw three Cambodian and Vietnamese women die after severe abuse; Thai, Indonesian and Laotian prisoners were also reportedly abused. This however refuted by Malaysian Deputy Home Minister
Nur Jazlan Mohamed Datuk Nur Jazlan bin Mohamed (born 15 February 1966) is a Malaysian politician who served as the Deputy Minister of Home Affairs I in the Barisan Nasional (BN) administration under former Prime Minister Najib Razak and former Minister Ahmad ...
who said the matter has been investigated and no deaths are actually occurred. Nevertheless, a Malaysian couple were sentenced to death for starving their Cambodian maid to death.
Child-selling Child-selling is the practice of selling children, usually by parents, legal guardians, or subsequent custodians, including adoption agencies, orphanages and Mother and Baby Homes. Where the subsequent relationship with the child is essentially ...
is ongoing, with babies brought from countries such as Thailand and Cambodia. Some are bought by infertile couples, but the less fortunate are sold to traffickers and forced to become sex slaves or beggars. Prostitution rings also offer babies from their foreign sex workers who become pregnant; some sex workers contact couples to offer their babies, since Malaysian law forbids migrant workers from having children in the country.


Social impact

In 1986, the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, local integrati ...
(UNHCR) attempted to integrate Filipino refugees in Sabah with local communities if it could not repatriate them to the Philippines; however, this was opposed by the Sabah state government and local residents. The UNHCR tried a similar solution in 2015, issuing refugee cards in West Malaysia without government approval.


Policy

The
Immigration Department of Malaysia The Immigration Department of Malaysia ( ms, Jabatan Imigresen Malaysia) is a department of the Malaysian federal government that provides services to Malaysian citizens, permanent residents and foreign visitors. The department is responsible f ...
has promised that Malaysia will be free from illegal immigrants in 2020.


Amnesty programme

In 2011, Malaysia introduced Program 6P to reduce the number of illegal immigrants. The 6P is shorthand for six Malay words beginning with ''p'': ''pendaftaran'' (registration), ''pemutihan'' (legalisation), ''pengampunan'' (amnesty), ''pemantauan'' (supervision), ''penguatkuasaan'' (enforcement) and ''pengusiran'' (deportation). Illegal immigrants were given three weeks to accept the offer or face legal penalties if found without a valid travel document or work permit. There was a call to strengthen the programme by monitoring management companies appointed as intermediaries between employers and illegal foreign workers.


Enforcement

Malaysian authorities have frequently cracked down on illegal immigrants (sometimes without notice), with more frequent enforcement since 2014. Illegal immigrants are imprisoned, caned and deported. In early 2017, a former employee of the Malaysian Registration Department (JPN) was sentenced to 156 years in prison for giving illegal citizenship to Filipino immigrants in Sabah.


Regional co-operation

A joint border commission has been formed with the Philippines to patrol from the southern Philippines to
East Malaysia East Malaysia (), or the Borneo States, also known as Malaysian Borneo, is the part of Malaysia on and near the island of Borneo, the world's third-largest island. Near the coast of Sabah is a small archipelago called Labuan. East Malaysia li ...
, and Thailand has agreed to lengthen its border wall along the Malaysian state of
Kedah Kedah (), also known by its honorific Darul Aman (Islam), Aman and historically as Queda, is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia, located in the northwestern part of Peninsular Malaysia. The state covers a total area ...
to curb the flow of illegal workers across the Malay–Thai border. Spanish Ambassador to Malaysia María Bassols Delgado has urged the country to develop closer ties with other ASEAN nations to solve the immigrant problem: "Close understanding between Asean countries would result in a more effective approach to identify the individuals who entered the country illegally and without identification papers. This would facilitate the process of sending them back to their countries of origin". Malaysia received two Bay-class patrol boats from
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
in 2015, and said that the vessels would be used to protect their maritime borders from illegal migration across the Straits of Malacca. Before a November 2016 meeting between Philippine President
Rodrigo Duterte Rodrigo Roa Duterte (, ; born March 28, 1945), also known as Digong, Rody, and by the initials DU30 and PRRD, is a Filipino lawyer and politician who served as the 16th president of the Philippines from 2016 to 2022. He is the chairperson ...
and Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak in Putrajaya, both leaders agreed to deport illegal Filipino migrants and refugees in Sabah back to the Philippines and signed agreements to improve the social conditions of legal Filipino migrants and expatriates in the state with a school, hospital, and consulate. That month, Thai Defence Minister
Prawit Wongsuwan Prawit Wongsuwon ( th, ประวิตร วงษ์สุวรรณ, , ; born 11 August 1945) is a Thai politician who is serving as the First Deputy Prime Minister and previously served as Minister of Defence from 2008 to 2011 during th ...
announced a plan to replace the southern Malay–Thai border fence with a wall; Wongsuwan got the idea from a meeting in
Laos Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist ...
with his Malaysian counterparts.


See also

* Pendatang asing, a term used by Malaysians for immigrants or foreigners


References


Further reading


Laws regarding to Immigration in Malaysia
(PDF) – Attorney General's Chambers of Malaysia {{Malaysia topics
Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
Immigration to Malaysia