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KUALA LUMPUR—Malaysia’s government announced plans Wednesday to chase out tens of
thousands of illegal immigrants, mainly Filipinos and
Indonesians, who have become a major political irritant
on Borneo island.
Deputy
Prime Minister Najib Razak said authorities will soon
launch a massive operation to flush out foreigners
without travel or identification documents from eastern
Sabah state, which borders both the Philippines and
Indonesia.
“We will
deport them to the country that is willing to accept
them,” Najib was quoted as saying by the national news
agency Bernama. He said immigrants who have lived
unlawfully in Sabah since the 1970s would not be spared.
His
aides could not immediately be reached for further
details.
Authorities recently estimated there are some 130,000
illegal immigrants in Sabah. But the state’s politicians
insist the real figure is several times that, and claim
that foreigners outnumber Malaysians in some provinces.
The
issue has long been a bitter grievance for Sabah
politicians, who accuse the federal government of
failing to oust job-seeking foreigners after their
permits expire.
Top
government leaders have stepped up efforts to resolve
the problem amid speculation that many Sabah lawmakers
planned to defect to the opposition because of
dissatisfaction with Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad
Badawi’s administration.
Although
Sabah has vast natural resources, such as timber, it is
one of Malaysia’s poorest states. Some residents blame
this on large numbers of migrants whose presence means
fewer available jobs. AP |
