The Malaysian immigration authorities have started a major crackdown on illegal immigrants, and the estimated 60,000 among the 600,000 Nepali workers in Malaysia may be affected.
So far, neither the Nepal Embassy in Kuala Lumpur nor the Department of Labour in Kathmandu has any idea of the numbers involved. The Malaysian authorities said on Monday that 229 of those detained were Nepalis. But local Nepalis have said up to 1,000 have been detained all over the country in two days and many illegals were hiding in homes and factories.
Most of those detained are said to be from Indonesia, Burma, Vietnam, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. The illegal migrants were those who did not reveal themselves last year when the Malaysian government announced a general amnesty.
The Malaysian authorities say there are 500,000 illegal workers in the country and say this is their biggest ever operation to apprehend them in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Penang and Johor.
The detained workers will be deported immediately and employers found hiring illegals could be charged. Malaysian Immigration director-general Datuk Alias Ahmad said the department would seek the cooperation of foreign missions through Wisma Putra to issue the illegals with travelling documents to speed up their deportation. The Nepal Embassy said it would be issuing travel documents to the Nepalis who have been detained so far.
See video of illegal roundup in Malaysia
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