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23rd July, 2008
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) Women chief, Melanie Chia has called on the authorities to first plug loopholes in the present legal system before embarking on a large-scale deportation exercise for illegal immigrants in the state.
She stressed that the move was crucial and necessary so as to ensure that the government’s effort in resolving the illegal immigrant issue would not end up wasting time and taxpayers’ money.
In a statement issued here yesterday, Melanie who is also the Assistant Finance Minister said the revelation by the Sabah director of the Immigration Department Datuk Baharon Talib indicated that there were loopholes or flaws in the present legal system.
Baharon was reported recently to have expressed doubts over the effectiveness of caning as a punishment to deter illegal immigrants from entering the state.
He disclosed that some illegal immigrants caught returning to Sabah without valid documents were those who had already been caned and deported as many as seven times.
Meanwhile, Melanie, the Luyang assemblywoman lashed at the deputy director of the National Security Council for remarking that local employers were to blame for the large presence of illegal immigrants in Sabah as they prefered them to locals.
“This is absolutely incorrect and unfair to the local employers as no one in his or her right mind would simply want to hire an illegal with the full knowledge that it would later bring them a lot of unnecessary trouble including a heavy fine and imprisonment if caught,” she said.
Instead, she said many local employers ended up hiring illegals due to the excessive red tape involved when employing foreign workers legally.
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