IN the mix of measures the government has deployed to fight illegal immigration,
a crucial link always seemed to be missing somewhere in the defences.
Over the years, immigration laws have been tightened,
enforcement beefed up, and occasional offers of amnesty made, but the results
remain unimpressive. One reason for this is that while much attention is focused
on nabbing and punishing the immigrant, there hasn’t seemed to be an equal
emphasis on making sure the employer is made to face the law with sufficient
severity.
However, the tipping point needed to address this imbalance may have arrived. On
Thursday, restaurant owner S. Varatheraaj V. Santrian became the country’s first
employer to be punished with a stroke of the cane, alongside a 10-month jail
term, for harbouring six Indian workers.
For too long, the battle seems only to have focused on one side of the traffic,
and the numbers speak for themselves: as of March last year there were 362,958
overstayers arrested and deported, but only 186 employers charged.
And while one in three illegal foreign workers convicted in the first three
months of this year was sentenced to be whipped, no guilty employer has ever
been lashed, even though the Immigration Act allows corporal punishment as a
maximum penalty.
The Act was even amended five years ago to make caning mandatory, but three
years later, Indonesia’s Manpower Minister Fahmi Idris — our neighbour being a
major source country of illegal immigrants — famously remarked how he was still
waiting for a Malaysian court to cane an offending employer.
With the country’s illegal worker population estimated at a whopping half a
million, the sheer extent of the problem may understandably cause some to prefer
tougher border enforcement as the way to go instead of dealing firmly with the
sordid business of labour exploitation.
But in trying to turn the tide on an influx driven mainly by the search of jobs
offered by willing hirers, the point to note is that it takes two to tango.
Behind every illegal immigrant is an employer smug in the knowledge that his
fate, at worst, will only be a slap on the wrist in the form of fines.
By demonstrating just how far the authorities are willing to go when laying down
the law, a much-needed message will be sent out to those creating the demand for
illegal workers in the first place: that when it comes to manpower recruitment,
they no longer have any choice but to follow the rules.
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8th LAWASIA Employment Law Conference, Cambodia (24 and 25 May 2013) Organised by The Law Association for Asia and the Pacific (“LAWASIA”), this conference featuring Lia Alizia and Brian Williamson, will be held at Tara Angkor Hotel, Vithei Charles de Gaulle, Siem Reap, Cambodia, at 8:45 am to 7:00 pm and 9:00 am to 5:30 pm, on 24 and 25 May 2013 (Friday and Saturday), respectively. The conference carries 10 CPD points. Click on the link above for more details.
MSLSSL and MCLJ Conference on Employment and Labour Laws 2013 (30 May 2013) Organised by the Malaysian Society for Labour and Social Security Law and Malaysian Current Law Journal, this conference entitled “Current Issues on Employment and Labour Laws” will be held at 8:30 am to 6:00 pm, at Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur, on 30 May 2013 (Thursday). The conference carries six CPD points. Click on the link above for more details.
International Arbitration Conference by CIArb Malaysia (22 to 24 Aug 2013) Organised by the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, this conference will be held at Eastern & Oriental Hotel, 10 Lebuh Farquhar, 10200 George Town, Penang, from 22 to 24 Aug 2013 (Thursday to Saturday). The conference carries 10 CPD points. Early-bird rate ends on 30 Apr 2013. Click on the link above for more details.
“Transforming Criminal Justice” One-week Study Programme (25 to 29 Nov 2013) Organised by Public Administration International (“PAI”), this UK-based one-week study programme entitled “Transforming Criminal Justice: from Joined-up Justice to Multi-agency Approaches” will be held in London from 25 to 29 Nov 2013 (Monday to Friday). For further enquiries, please contact PAI by telephone at +44 (0)20 7580 3590, by fax at +44 (0)20 7580 4746, or by email at pai@public-admin.co.uk.