The swoop by the Immigration Department on a construction site in Miri on Thursday which netted 200 illegal immigrants raised the disconcerting suspicion that the issue of foreigners squatting in the state to work illegally is far bigger than we initially thought.
Although illegal immigrants are not a new problem for the state and is nowhere near the scale in Sabah, it is worrying that until recently, the enforcement agencies had not taken the threat seriously, thus allowing it to grow when it could have been easily nipped in the bud.
The raids carried out by the Immigration Department and other agencies is a direct result of a broadside fired by Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Adenan at Immigration Department officers after the presence of Suluk fishermen in Miri was highlighted in the media.
The recording of the scolding delivered by Adenan by someone at the meeting went viral, drawing overwhelming plaudits from netizens not only in the state but also from Sabah and Peninsular Malaysia.
It seems the raids carried out by the enforcement agencies so far have merely scratched the surface of the illegal immigrant problem.
The Suluks and Bajaus from Southern Philippines, for example, are not confined to coastal areas and engaged in illegal fishing, as Thursday’s raid exposed they are also found at construction sites and very possibly in plantations too.
While it is not wrong to employ foreign labourers since Sarawak is chronically short of manual manpower, their employment must be done legally.
What’s left to be seen is what action would be taken against the employers of these illegal workers who have clearly flouted the law to hire cheap labour.
As the Chief Minister pointed out, it is regrettable that their arrival in the state was facilitated by unscrupulous businessmen who exploit them for cheap labour.
Rounding up illegal immigrants and not taking action against those who employ them is merely trying to cure the symptoms while ignoring the cause of the problem.
Hopefully the measures taken against illegal immigrants would not end up with similar results as in the war against illegal logging, with tons and tons of illegal logs seized but none of the operators of the illegal operations caught, except a few underlings at the scene.
It is understandable that the main culprits of illegal logging are difficult to catch as they would not be at the locations where the trees were felled.
However, the contractors who employ illegal immigrants at their worksite should be easier to identify and hauled up.
If the exercise to clear the state of illegal immigrants were to succeed, then the enforcement agencies must go after the employers and masterminds behind human trafficking.
Cure the cause, not the symptoms.