Illegal Immigrants Should Get One-Way Document To Return Home - Malaysian DPM

HUTAN MELINTANG (Perak, Malaysia), Sept 4 (Bernama) -- Foreign workers and illegal immigrants are required to obtain one-way document from their respective embassies for a legal passage home should they want to return to their homeland. Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said as such, the foreign embassies and consulates should be informed so that their citizens could return home. "This is an initiative by the Malaysian government to pardon the illegal immigrants, but if they intend to return here again, they will have to apply according to the stipulated procedures and obtain the temporary work permit," he said Friday. He said this at a media conference at the Hutan Melintang Jetty after observing the search and rescue operation for victims of a boat which capsized in Sabak Bernam (in Malaysian state of Selangor) on Thursday. Ahmad Zahid said such a move was taken as some of the illegal immigrants were victims of human trafficking syndicates. "So with the collaboration with the Indonesian embassy, as I told you earlier, that one-way document, a transit document, will be given to them and they will be usher back to their homeland. "They (illegal immigrants) are here because they are poor people, they are here to work, but at the same time, our legal system has to be respected," he added. He said 99 per cent of the illegal immigrants entered the country legally. "They became illegal because they overstayed, some of them were cheated by their employers and the documents were held by their employers, or maybe the agents had taken the documents...so we have to be fair to them," he added. --BERNAMA