PETRA JAYA: More action can be expected to weed out illegal immigrants and errant employers as the Immigration department set a new target of carrying out 1,300 operations monthly.
Immigration director general Datuk Seri Mustafar Ali said the figure will be the department’s new target for its Key Performance Index.
“We have exceeded our initial KPI of 850 operations per month so we strive to do better, therefore we have set a new target as a challenge for our officers,” he said.
Mustafar said since launching its E-Card Ops Mega in July, more than 19,000 illegal immigrants and 427 employers have been detained.
Last month 1,327 operations were launched to track down employers and illegal workers who failed to obtain the E-card or Enforcement Card.
“I’m happy with the figures which I received last night and we are committed to fight against illegal workers and employers who tried to protect them and hire them,” he said, adding majority of those arrested were from the construction and service sector.
“We have given them ample of time to register their workers and some still failed to do so. Besides, we also introduced rehiring and 3-plus-1 program for the illegal foreign workers who wanted to work here.
“But, there are people who refused to cooperate with us. We will not compromise on this anymore,” he said after witnessing the anti-corruption integrity pledge by Sarawak Immigration Department at the state library here.
The department is also moving towards digitalising its daily operations by introducing online applications as well as e-payment systems to reduce corruption and abuse of power, Mustafar said.
“We want to reduce human interaction as this can help us in combating corruption. Apart from that, we will also go after those who try to bribe our officers,” he stressed.
The E-card programme was introduced to meet the high demand for foreign workers by employers to address labour shortages in several key economic sectors in peninsular Malaysia on Feb 15.
With the card, employers or the foreigners would be given a year to register accordingly. Issuance of the card ended on July 1.
The E-Card applies to workers from 15 countries, namely Bangladesh, Philippines, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.