KUALA TERENGGANU: Foreigners in Terengganu are targeting local women, including elderly folk, for marriage to enjoy government facilities, especially business licences.
Terengganu Immigration director Azhar Abd Hamid said that local women who tied the knot with foreign men were usually neglected after all facilities, including business licences, were obtained.
The men would neglect their responsibilities and live separately after benefiting from facilities obtained under their wives' names.
"Some local women married to foreign men were only given a monthly allowance of RM300," he said during a gathering with the Terengganu Media Journalists' Club at the Urban Transformation Centre yesterday.
He added that the department had identified cases where foreign men targeted local women, including elderly individuals, specifically to exploit them.
"We are concerned that if this situation continues, even more local women will become victims of foreign individuals," he said.
Azhar added that most women involved in such cases were unwilling to dissolve their marriages as they feared no one would support them if they separated from their foreign husbands.
Since January of this year, he said, 61 new marriages involving local women and foreigners had been registered in Terengganu, while 192 couples had renewed their Social Visit Passes.
Last year, he said, 925 marriages with foreigners were recorded, including 73 cases of new marriages and 852 extension applications for couples.