Wan Junaidi (third left) embrasing an orphan, as (from left) Shawal, Dr Annuar, Feona and others look on.
SIBU: All illegal immigrants who are caught will have their biometrics taken and their names blacklisted by the Immigration Department to prevent them from re-entering the country.
Deputy Home Affairs Minister Dato Sri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said this procedure would also be used on foreign workers who had overstayed their welcome.
“If they (foreign workers) move from one sector to another, perhaps manipulated by their agents or something like that, we will also treat them as aliens,” he told a press conference after breaking fast with orphans from Sarawak Orphans Welfare Board (Peryatim) Sibu on Sunday.
Earlier in his speech, Wan Junaidi urged all agencies under his ministry, including the police, Immigration Department, and National Registration Department, to be more proactive.
Officers, he stressed, must be smart in assigning duties in the face of manpower constraints.
Santubong MP Wan Junaidi added that they needed to display proactive attitude, including good time management and human resource management skills.
On this town, he said the place was attracting foreigners seeking employment, and the ‘accommodating’ attitude of the locals had made these foreigners wanted to stay here longer than permitted, at times.
He also called on the community to play their part in addressing the social ills.
Peninsular Malaysia, he told those present, was flooded with people from Myanmar, Bangladesh and Indonesia.
“Though Sarawak has yet to experience such a situation, Filipinos escaping crackdown from authorities in Sabah have entered Kuala Baram.
“I have personally joined in a raid with the state Immigration director.A month later, the chief minister received a report from me, and he decided that these folk had to be sent home, whether back to Sabah or the Philippines.”
Also present at the press conference were Wan Junaidi’s wife Datin Feona Sim, Nangka assemblyman Dr Annuar Rapaee, state deputy Immigration director Shawal Hamfatullah and Sibu Immigration chief Raymond Entalai.