KUALA TERENGGANU: Terengganu’s security from the threat of illegal foreign workers is not in jeopardy, assured Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Ahmad Razif Abdul Rahman today.
He added that it is possible to admit foreign workers to be hired at factories, in the services industry, in the oil and gas sector, and on agricultural estates through proper and smooth administration.
Terengganu has an estimated 50,000 foreign workers, labouring mainly in the manufacturing and plantation industries, who have been duly registered according to the laws of the country.
“We are able to keep a tight rein on foreign workers owing to a successful processing system of employment, and most of all, through surveillance and enforcement.
“Thus, we are able to ensure (the people that) the situation of having illegal workers here is (not a problem),” he said at the Hari Raya open house at his state constituency of Seberang Takir at Dataran Permata in Kuala Nerus.
Ahmad Razif stressed that security is of utmost priority for Terengganu, which enjoys a very low crime rate and where there is good cooperation from employers to comply with immigration regulations.
He was commenting on the nationwide blitz to weed out illegal foreign workers following the end of the grace period to have them registered with the Immigration Department’s Enforcement Card (E-Card) programme last night.
The E-Card was issued from Feb 15 until July 1 for employers to legally register foreign workers lacking valid work permits.
The menteri besar said that despite the state’s good track record, the Immigration Department has nonetheless mobilised its enforcement team to carry out spot checks at business premises believed to be hiring foreign workers.
“This is to double check the status of the workers, in line with the ongoing nationwide screening of foreigners.
“Thus far, there have hardly been any arrests,” he added.