Authorities estimate at least 2 million foreigners work in Malaysia illegally, mostly from neighboring Indonesia.
Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said the nationwide exercise starting July 11 will be Malaysia’s biggest effort to manage its growing population of foreign workers. It will last at least two weeks but could be extended up to a month depending on its success, officials said. The fingerprints will be used to create a biometrics database that will enable the government to monitor its foreign worker population and combat problems such as fake identity documents, he said.
“This will be one of our biggest exercises ever. It won’t be easy but we will manage,” Muhyiddin told reporters.
He said no action will be taken against illegal immigrants: “We want to encourage them to come out.” Malaysia has become a magnet for people from impoverished or war-torn places looking for work or seeking a transit point to enter other nations, such as Australia. Most of the illegal workers have menial jobs in palm oil plantations, factories, construction sites and restaurants.
Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said the amnesty was a practical approach to fill up labor shortages in Malaysia and protect illegal immigrants against human traffickers and unscrupulous employers.
“What we are up in arms against are those who abuse them ... those who treat them as modern-day slaves. That’s what we are combating,” he said. Legal foreign workers make up 2 million of the country’s work force of 12 million.
Malaysia wants to cut dependence on foreign labor but has been unable to fill tens of thousands of low-paying menial jobs shunned by locals in this relatively wealthy Southeast Asian nation. Job opportunities have lured many illegal immigrants from poorer countries in the region, including Indonesia, Bangladesh and Myanmar.
Muhyiddin said the amnesty would offer employers their last chance to register illegal foreign workers without any penalty.
After the registration period ends, he said the government would see how illegal immigrants who are registered but have no jobs could be absorbed into the work force.
Officials said those who cannot find jobs have an option to return to their home countries without any punishment.
The government will later launch a crackdown to sweep up any remaining illegal immigrants, Muhyiddin added.
Foreigners who enter Malaysia illegally could be jailed up to five years and caned.
