THE authorities began a nationwide crackdown on illegal foreign workers last Friday. This is not the first crackdown carried by the Immigration Department and other authorities. A TV channel ran a series called 999, showing the authorities weeding out undocumented foreign workers.
It is embarrassing to see them handcuffed and dragged into vehicles to be transported to police stations.
No one knows what happens to them after that.
Presumably, they are deported, but after some time, they come back.
This has been going on for years, and by now, hundreds of thousands must have been deported for overstaying or working illegally.
In spite of all the action, the problem of illegals is getting worse.
It seems that the more we flush them out, the more they come into the country, almost as a retaliation.
Maybe they see a lot of weakness and leniency at our borders and entry points, which they take advantage of to enter the country.
Or is what we are doing just treating the symptoms of the disease but not the real cause?
This has been going on for years, and given the fact that we have not succeeded in reducing the number of undocumented workers, we should ask whether we are serious about dealing with the problem, or are we doing it just to allay people’s fears?
I say this because when the government made the announcement to freeze the intake of foreign workers temporarily while a review is being carried out, Bangladesh, a major source of our foreign worker supply, does not seem to believe or take it seriously, as it expects its nationals will still make their way to Malaysia.
The change in stance by the government, and the contradictory statements issued, add to the confusion.
The crackdown is nothing more than a symbolic gesture.
However, as time passes, we let them come in again.
I believe the problem of undocumented foreign workers has reached an uncontrollable stage.
Just look at the crackdown last Friday. Only 2,182 foreigners were checked out of four million, which is 0.05 per cent, less than one per cent.
What happens to the rest?
These numbers speak for themselves.
We may have to mobilise more resources to be effective and to meet the government’s goal.
This flushing out must continue every day, at least for one year, until every illegal is flushed out.
It is not too late to be tough because we have ourselves to blame for leaving our doors open to other people.
Our greed and lust for short-term gain have taken the better of us, to the extent of us ignoring the long-term consequences to society, country and our future generation. If we do not learn any lesson from this, we will never learn anything.
A.B. SIDEK,
Petaling Jaya, Selangor