6P Amnesty and legalisation processes to run simultaneously

A file picture of Hishammuddin.

PUTRAJAYA (Nov 1, 2011): The government has decided that the amnesty and legalisation processes under the ‘6P Programme’ for illegal immigrant workers be carried out simultaneously.
Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said today this was so that illegal immigrants wishing to return to their country of origin, can leave the country as soon as possible.
The ‘6P programme’ which was launched on July 11 comprises six processes – ‘Pendaftaran’ (registration) , ‘Pemutihan’ (legalisation), ‘Pengampunan’ (amnesty), ‘Pemantauan’ (supervision), ‘Penguatkuasaan’ (enforcement) and ‘Pengusiran’ (deportation).
Hishammuddin said the amnesty process involves two categories of illegal immigrants – those who had participated in the registration process which ended on Aug 31 and wished to leave this country immediately, and those who had surrendered voluntarily.
“Under this process, illegal immigrants can deal directly with the Immigration Department to obtain an Exit Inspection Memo to leave the country without any action being taken against them,” he said in a statement.
As of Oct 31, a total of 25,561 illegal immigrants had been granted amnesty and had left the country under the 6P amnesty.
The majority of them were from Indonesia (15,901 immigrants), India (2,501), Nepal (1,048), Myanmar (1,040) and Vietnam (930).
“The illegal immigrants who were granted amnesty had been screened and found to be free of any criminal record and were therefore allowed to return home with all the costs fully borne by the immigrants themselves,” he said.
“So far, the government has not had to provide any allocations to finance their repatriation, including cost of food and temporary lodging,” Hishammuddin said.
Meanwhile, he said as of Sunday, 27,514 illegal immigrants had been legalised to work for 2,208 employers throughout the country under the 6P Programme.
Through the 6P Programme, the government had succeeded in saving about RM3.3 billion in terms of gross expenditure to register 1,303,126 illegal immigrants which ended on Aug 31.
At the same time, he said, the government also managed to increase collection from the fees charged for levy, pass and visa imposed on the foreign workers who were given amnesty.
The 6P programme was aimed at gathering biometric data on the large number of illegal immigrants in the country to enhance management and law enforcement of foreign workers on a large scale.
A total of 2,320,034 immigrants comprising 1,016,908 legal workers and 1,303,126 illegal workers were biometrically registered during the registration stage which ended on Aug 31.
Indonesians made up the highest number of foreign workers here with 640,609 illegal workers and 405,312 legal workers; followed by Bangladeshis, numbering 267,803 illegal workers and 132,897 legal; and Nepalese 221,617 legitimate workers and 33,437 illegals.