File photo of illegal immigrants detained by the border patrol, whom authorities believe were attempting to sneak into the state to seek employment or become involved in smuggling activities.
KUCHING (March 4): Sarawak is considering allocating more resources for intelligence-centric projects to reduce and curb threats brought about by illegal immigrants (Pati) entering the state, said Tan Sri Datuk Amar Dr James Jemut Masing today.
“We have discussed ways to halt the activities of tekongs (boat skippers) who arrange for Pati to sneak into Sarawak for various purposes,” said the deputy chief minister after chairing the 4th Border Security Control Committee Meeting for 2021 here.
Masing, who is also heading the committee, said these Pati sneaked into the state seeking employment, doing business or worse, smuggling subsidised goods into neighbouring Kalimantan.
He said authorities including the police, general operations force, army, immigration and customs were working around the clock to address such issues.
“But still this is an ongoing activity,” he said.
According to him, the ‘tekongs’ seem to be involved in a lucrative business of transporting these Pati to their destinations from Indonesia into Sarawak.
“What’s even worse is that there are employers and legal foreign workers who are harbouring these Pati,” said the Minister for Infrastructure and Ports Development.
Masing opined that scheduled roadblocks did not seem to deter these illegal activities.
He said authorities had to resort to snap check operations to catch culprits off guard.
“This is why there should be more resources allocated for integrated intelligence projects between the agencies involved. Hopefully, we can gain information and strategise to prevent these illegal activities.”
Meanwhile, an officer from the Ministry of Modernisation of Agriculture, Native Land and Regional Development said there were 699 large plantation estates located at the border, with the largest number in Miri followed by Bintulu and Mukah.
Last year, the total number of foreign workers in the plantation sector in Sarawak was 68,960.
“In Miri alone, there were more than 16,000 foreign workers while in Bintulu and Mukah the numbers were around 15,000 and 10,000, respectively,” the officer explained.
According to the officer, the ministry has drawn up a “Site Surveillance Plan for the Agro-Community Sector” which aims, amongst others, to ensure that all plantation estates comply with the Covid-19 standard operating procedures (SOP) by the State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) to create more awareness regarding the matter among industry players and workers.
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