KOTA BAHARU: The Home Ministry will initiate a programme of bleaching or pardoning for almost two million illegal immigrants in the country starting July 1, said Deputy Home Minister Datuk Lee Chee Leong.
In this context, he said the recruitment of foreign workers during that period will be temporarily frozen to ensure that the nationwide programme runs smoothly.
“We are freezing all foreign worker applications for the programme which begins on July 1. We have also shortlisted 200 private companies which will be involved in managing the illegal immigrants,” he told reporters after presenting certificates of citizenship to 14 people, who applied to become Malaysian citizens since last year, at Kopitiam Kita here today.
He said the ministry’s 6P amnesty programme was carried out by registering illegal immigrants using a biometric system to track their movements in the country.
The programme, he added, involved six action plans which are registering, legalising, pardoning, monitoring, enforcing and deporting illegal immigrants.
Lee said the objective of the bleaching exercise was to collect data on how many illegal immigrants are in the country, how many work in sectors allowed to recruit foreigners and to give illegal immigrants a chance to go home without being prosecuted, as decided by the Cabinet.
He said the 200 companies interested in managing the registration of illegal immigrants submitted application forms downloaded from the website www.moha.gov.my.
Lee said only companies with experience in human resource management and foreign workers will be selected, while orgnisations and associations will only involve their employers and need to be registered with the Registrar of Societies.
“There are 1.9 million foreigners working legally in the country, but our information shows that the number of illegal immigrants is more than that with about two million people in total,” he added. – Bernama
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