Tuesday, September 29, 2020

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS A HUGE THREAT TO MALAYSIA'S CORONAVIRUS WAR

Indonesian illegal immigrants hiding in a banana plantation at Kampung Tawau Lama waiting for transport to go to their destinations after sneaking into the country by sea. The bad news is - Indonesia's Covid-19 cases have surpassed China (Source: Jabatan Imigresen Malaysia Facebook).

For months, since the implementation of the Movement Control Order (MCO) on 18 March 2020 until now, I dare not go shopping at all to avoid any risk of infection by the virus. For the first time in my life, I have never bought any clothes, shoes, handbags, watches, books, and artificial jewellery for months. I have really saved a lot of money during these months because apart from food, I have nothing else to buy. Prior to the MCO, I used to visit all the shops in Bukit Bintang area every weekend looking for things to buy but I have never been to this area since the MCO. I prefer not to go out and will avoid it whenever I can particularly because I feel very uncomfortable wearing a mask. As someone who loves shopping, life has been very miserable for me but being hopeful that the coronavirus crisis would come to pass one day does help to brighten up my day. When Malaysia's Covid-19 cases dropped to one on 1 July 2020, I thought that life would go back to normal again very soon. Yes, Malaysia has been very successful in battling Covid-19 and was winning the war.

However, the recent increase of new Covid-19 clusters involving illegal immigrants with more than 100 new cases per day is really scary. It seems that these unwelcome guests are still trying to sneak into the country in the midst of the pandemic bringing the virus with them thus creating new sources of infections. Needless to say, these illegal immigrants pose a serious health threat to Malaysia and have done a lot of damage already. The recent case of a detainee at the Tawau Temporary Detention Center in Sabah who sneaked into Sabah again via Rat Lanes on 5 September 2020 after being deported to the Philippines on 27 August 2020 raise concerns over Covid-19 infections involving undocumented migrants. His wife was tested positive for Covid-19 on 8 September 2020 and was hospitalized. Two of his close contacts were also tested positive for Covid-19 and that was how the 'Sea Cluster' started in Kunak, Sabah. Thus one can see how much damage an illegal immigrant can do to the country. With the highest number of Covid-19 cases in South-East Asia, the Philippines is the worst hit country in the region. The new strain, G614, found in the Philippines, is ten times more infectious than D614, the original strain from Wuhan. With so many unwelcome trouble-makers like him in Sabah, many new clusters have been formed and the Sabah travelers have brought the infections to Peninsular Malaysia. 

Thanks to our Malaysian Armed Forces, Royal Malaysia Police, Immigration Officers, Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency, Malaysian Civil Defence Force, Malaysian Border Security Agency, and the General Operations Force for their unrelenting efforts to tighten the country's border control and prevent the Covid-19 outbreak. These frontliners have been doing a great job and if not because of their tireless efforts to stop illegal immigrants from entering the country by sea and via Rat Lanes, the Covid-19 situation here would be much worse. The problem is there are still many illegal immigrants sneaking into Malaysia almost every day and every one of them can turn out to be a new source of Covid-19 infection. What's wrong with their countries? Why can't they stay in their own countries? Why is everyone coming to Malaysia? Is it because There Is Gold Everywhere in Malaysia? To date, millions of illegal immigrants have left their countries to look for an opportunity to succeed in Malaysia, something that is hard to find in their own countries. It seems that there are jobs waiting for the illegal immigrants in Malaysia even though many Malaysians have lost their jobs due to the coronavirus outbreak!

In this article, I would like to share some of the most recent "illegal entry" cases based on the information that I obtained from the Facebook of Jabatan Imigresen Malaysia (Immigration Department of Malaysia). These cases (dated from 1 August 2020 to 29 September 2020) clearly indicate that many illegal immigrants still risk their lives to get to Malaysia almost every day even though they know that they are not welcomed here. Why? Because they know that Malaysia  is the land of opportunity. Their predecessors have proven to them that anyone who comes here can become successful through hard work and determination. Since Malaysia is everyone's favored destination, it really deserves this reputation - the land of opportunity. 

Case 1 (27 September 2020)   
A 24-year-old female agent, 2 male agents aged 20 and 24, and 5 Thai men were arrested by the General Operations Force in Tumpat. The Thai nationals, aged 28 to 33, were on their way to Endau, Johor, to work as fishermen. According to Superintendent Azhari Nusi, their car was coming from the direction of Kampung Simpangan and heading towards Kampung Jubakar when they were asked to stop but they tried to flee and sped off. The officers then gave chase and arrrested them (Source: Ejen wanita, 2 tekong, 5 PATI ditahan).

Case 2 (25 September 2020)   
A 70-year-old taxi driver was arrested for trying to smuggle 3 Indonesian women (aged 37 to 40) into the country (Source: Warga emas, 3 PATI ditahan).

Case 3 (21 September 2020)   
Footsteps on the beach led to the discovery and arrest of 8 illegal immigrants from Indonesia (6 men and 2 women, aged 18-49) who disembarked on Desaru Beach, Johore (Source: Kesan tapak kaki bongkar PATI).

Case 4 (20 September 2020)   
The bodies of 6 illegal immigrants who were drowned while attempting to sneak into the country were found on Teluk C Beach near Bandar Penawar in Kota Tinggi, Johor (Source: 6 Mayat PATI Ditemui).

Case 5 (20 September 2020)   
2 Indonesian human trafficking agents (aged 50 and 59), 14 Indonesian men (aged 25 to 43) and 14 Indonesian women (aged 20 to 53) were arrested in Sabak Bernam by the General Operations Force while they were sneaking into the country (Source: Dua tekong darat dalang penyeludupan PATI ditahan).

Case 6 (19 September 2020)
An illegal Indonesian woman, aged 45, who was arrested by the General Operations Force at a shrimp pond area at Sungai Nipah, Simpang Lima, was tested positive for Covid-19. Also arrested were 12 Indonesian men and 12 Indonesian women aged 21 to 45, and 2 Bangladeshi men, aged 24 and 26. It was believed that they sneaked into the country by boat (Source: Seorang PATI dicekup PGA positif Covid-19).

Case 7 (19 September 2020)
A human trafficking agent and 5 illegal Thai nationals (1 man and 4 women), aged 19 to 44, was arrested by the General Operations Force at Salor, Kota Bharu. When asked to stop, the four-wheel drive sped off but were nabbed after a 17km car chase from Pangkalan Haram Jitong. According to Superintendent Azhari Nusi, the agent has been ordered to drive the illegal immigrants to Kota Bharu (Source: Tekong darat, lima PATI ditahan).

Case 8 (18 September 2020)    
4 illegal immigrants from Cambodia who sneaked into the country were on their way to Kota Bharu to work were when they were arrested by the General Operations Force near Pangkalan Haram Kampung Kebun, Pangkalan Kubor. A 65-year-old local man, who was driving them to their destination in his Proton Saga at a fee of RM100 per person, was also arrested (Source: Tekong, empat PATI warga Kemboja dicekup). 

Case 9 (17 September 2020)    
77 illegal Indonesians (53 men and 18 women aged 17 to 58, 2 children aged 1 and 3, a skipper and 3 crew) were arrested near Pulau Ketam while they were sneaking into the country by boat. Three of them tried to jump out of the boat but were caught. The boat was sailing from Tanjung Balai, Indonesia, to Port Klang (Source: 77 pendatang asing termasuk tekong, kru bot ditahan cuba menyusup masuk).

Case 10 (13 September 2020)   
20 illegal immigrants from Indonesia (13 men and 7 women, aged 24 to 40) were arrested by the General Operations Force at Sungai Nipah, Kampung Sungai Haji Dorani at Sungai Besar not long after they arrived by boat (Source: 20 PATI baru 'mendarat' dicekup).

Case 11 (9 September 2020)
The Malaysian Army arrested 13 illegal immigrants (8 men and 5 women, aged 20 to 54 years old) at Bandar Penawar, Kota Tinggi, who have been abandoned by their skipper and did not know how to swim ashore (Tekong 'cabut', PATI ditangkap). 

Case 12 (30 August 2020)   
13 Indonesian illegal immigrants (5 men, 5 women, and 3 boys, aged 7 to 58) who sneaked into Tawau early in the morning were arrested by the Marine Police Force at Kampung Hidayat Batu 4. At the time they were found, they were hiding on the potato farm - an illegal immigrant transit den (Source: Helah PATI tidak berjaya).
 
Case 13 (28 August 2020)   
11 Indonesian illegal immigrants (8 men, 2 women, and one child, aged 2 to 45) were hiding in a banana plantation at Kampung Tawau Lama when they were arrested by the Marine Police Force at 5.30 am. They sneaked into the plantation via Tawau sea border and were waiting for transport to go to their destinations. One of them had a passport but the other 10 did not have any documents (Source: PATI warga Indonesia sembunyi di kebun pisang ditahan).

Case 14 (24 August 2020)    
The Marine Operations Force arrested a 45-year-old illegal Indonesian man at a palm oil farm in Kampung Tinagat, Tawau, believed to be an illegal immigrant transit den, at midnight. However, the other illegals managed to escape into the nearby forest. A few hours later, 6 illegals (2 men and 3 women, aged 20-57, and a four-year-old child) were arrested at Jalan Batu Puyung while a 28-year-old local man was driving them to their destinations. All the illegals were undocumented and believed to have entered the country via Rat Lanes (Source: Penduduk tempatan jadi dalang seludup PATI). 

Case 15 (22 August 2020)    
A local woman, aged 33, was arrested at a roadblock for smuggling 3 undocumented Bangladeshi men (aged 30-36) from Kuala Lumpur to Keteri, Perlis, at a fee of RM450 (Source: Wanita tempatan jadi tekong darat). 

Case 16 (10 August 2020)    
A local man and 9 Thai men who sneaked into the country via Rat Lanes were arrested by the General Operations Force at Jalan Kampung Bagus, Rantau Panjang. At the time they were arrested, the local man was driving the Thai nationals to Selayang to work in his Toyota Alphard. The local man admitted that he was paid RM350 for each illegal immigrant and thus a total of RM3150 for this trip (Source: Tekong darat raih habuan RM350 bagi seorang PATI).

Case 17 (6 August 2020)
2 local men, human trafficking agents believed to be under the influence of drugs, and 6 illegals from Myanmar (2 men and 4 women), were arrested by the General Operations Force at Kampung Tok Bilal, Panyit, Machang. According to Superintendent Nor Azizan Yusof, they tried to flee and sped away in their Mitsubishi Pajero when the officers ordered them to stop at Kampung Bukit Tandak, Rantau Panjang. However, they were arrested after police car chase. The Myanmar nationals, believed to have sneaked into the country via Pangkalan Haram Sungai Golok, did not have any documents (Source: Cubaan seludup PATI gagal).

Case 18 (1 August 2020)   
4 Indonesian women (aged 27 to 37) were arrested by the General Operations Force at a palm oil farm at Taman Kenari, Sungai Sembilang, in Kuala Selangor for sneaking into the country illegally. They arrived here by boat and disembarked on Jeram Beach (Source: 'Kami mendarat di pantai Jeram' - PATI Indonesia). 

Can anyone imagine what will happen if all the illegal immigrants mentioned above manage to sneak into Malaysia bringing the coronavirus with them? OMG! Luckily they were arrested instead of moving around freely inside our country and transmitting Covid-19. Gone are the days when foreigners could come and go whenever they liked. Thanks to our Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, and our Minister of Defence, Dato' Sri Ismail Sabri bin Yaakob, for their continuing efforts to stop illegal immigration. 

Transmitting Covid-19 to another person is a serious crime particularly during the coronavirus pamdemic and it's time for heavier punishment to stem illegal immigration. In Singapore, the punishment for illegal immigrants and their agents are mandatory caning (not less than 3 strokes) and imprisonment. Perhaps, Malaysia should do the same too so that the illegals will not play 'hide-and-seek' with us again. Giving the illegals a free ride home is a waste of time and money as the deported illegals will sneak back to Malaysia again and again. Drastic action must be taken so that they will think twice before sneaking into the country. 

You may also like to read Should the illegal entry of the Rohingyas into Malaysia be encouraged? and The Rohingya Issue: Justice for Malaysia and Bangladesh. To view the content page of this blog, please click here.


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