by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP Kota Melaka, Lim Kit Siang, in Malacca on Tuesday, January 21, 1986:
DAP calls for law to require every employer to pay the coats of repatriating 100 illegal Indonesian immigrant for every illegal Indonesian immigrant he employs
On 12th September, Datuk Musa Hitam announced a nation-wide effort to check the influx of illegal immigrants by expanding the scope of Task Force VII(set up to deal with Vietnamese boat people) to tackle the problem of illegal immigrants as well.
Four months have passed, but the problem of illegal Indonesian immigrants have become more acute and intractable, whereby many Malaysians have lost the right to security of life and property as well as law and order. The police have failed so miserably to look after the Malaysian people from criminal actions of the illegal Indonesian immigrants, like armod robbery, murder and rape, that the people have been forced to organise themselves into vigilante corps!
Last year, only some 20,000 illegal immigrants (out of which 14,000 are from Indonesia) had been deported from Malaysia, which is a most pitiable figure when we take into account that there are BO rue one Million illegal Indonesian and other immigrants in Malaysia.
One of the reasons which the government had given for the very poor record of action against the problem of illegal Indonesian immigrants is the question of finance, as according to this source, it would cost the government $1million to repatriate about 20,000 illegal immigrants.
The DAP reiterate that regardless of cost, in the short, medium and long-term interest of the people and country, this money must be spent even if it should amount to $100 million. The security and well-being of Malaysia and our future generations cannot be compromised, and such $100 million would be better-spent than such White Elephant projects like the Dayabumi, Penang Komtar and other prestigious projects.
However, the government should make Malaysians responsible for the entry and stay of illegal Indonesian immigrants bear the costs of repatriating illegal Indonesian immigrants.
I call on the government to enact a law whereby every employer would be required to bear the costs of repatriating 100 illegal Indonesian immigrants for every illegal Indonesian immigrant he employs.
I believe such a law would serve the dual purpose of relieving the public burden of bearing the costs of repatriating illegal Indonesian immigrants, as well as cutting down severely on the total number of illegal Indonesian immigrants in the country. There is no doubt that many syndicates, operating sometimes by influential Malaysians, are responsible for bringing in these illegal Indonesian immigrants.
If there is such a law, the government would not have no spend a single cent for repatrating the 20,000 illegal immigrants last year, provided the authorities could ascertain and arrest 200 illegal Indonesian immigrants being illegally employed.
There should be no problem for the government to locate and arrest illegal Indonesian immigrants at their work places, and make the employers pay the panalty of financing the repatriation costs of 100 illegals for every illegal they employ. If the police and other authorities cannot find the illegal Indonesian immigrants at their work place, the DAP is prepared to form a squad to help the government authorities to flush out the illegal Indonesian immigrants from their work places.