Four Sub-Units To Handle Issues On Foreign Nationals

PUTRAJAYA, Nov 1 (Bernama) - The Ministry of Home Affairs on Monday set up four special sub-units to handle issues on foreign nationals in the country, said its minister Hishammuddin Hussein. He said the sub-units would handle issues relating to foreign nationals and foreign workers in East Malaysia states of Sabah and Sarawak, refugees, foreign students and baseless political allegations. He added that the four sub-units would look at various ancillary issues to further improve the 6P programme. "The four sub-units will be more focused on what needs to be done. It will work across ministries and agencies, including the foreign agencies and bodies... We are facing it based on the feedback from the public. "(The decision to form) the four sub-units was because it did not fall within the main objective of the cabinet committee and 6P programme. "However, it shows that we are moving forward and we are adding value to what we are doing now to achieve better results. We are widening our scope to address other issues and I hope the public would appreciate it," he said at a news conference here on Monday. Earlier, Hishammuddin chaired a meeting with directors of state immigration, here. He said the four sub-units would table a report to the Cabinet Committee on Foreign Workers and Illegal Immigrants chaired by the Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin. He said the four sub-units would be manned by officers under various agencies of the Home Affairs Ministry. "We have decided on whom to lead the unit but we will announce it later as the decision to form (the units) was only made today," he said. Meanwhile, Hishammuddin said the sub-units would also be tasked with replying to unsubstantiated political allegations made by the opposition from time to time especially relating to the 6P programme. "We do not want the allegations to burden the existing process. With the units, allegations could be answered through the Parliament Select Committee which also comprised opposition members. "If not, everyday we would be responding to baseless issues and in the end there are no benefits as they are politically motivated," he said. Apart from that, Hishammuddin said the unit to handle foreign student issues would cooperate with the Ministry of Higher Education, the Education Ministry, Human Resource Ministry, Foreign Ministry and all public and private institutions of higher learning as well as private colleges on the admission of foreign students and to find the best approach to manage the issue. "We are evaluating the privileges given to foreign students studying in the country to ensure they are not abused," he said adding that the privileges included allowing them to work part time during semester break. "We are worried that the privileges would used to carry out criminal activities or social misconduct," he said. "From January to September this year, the government approved 76,472 student passes and a total of 18,626 passes were issued to five African countries namely Nigeria, Sudan, Somalia, Bostwana and Libya. -- BERNAMA