Fruitful year for Sabah Immigration
Published on: Tuesday, December 06, 2016
Kota Kinabalu: State Immigration Department Director Musa Sulaiman said this year has so far been a productive one in terms of quantity for the department. "Among notable developments which we have achieved this year is the extended operating hours for the Sindumin Checkpoint," he said during the State-level Immigration Day held for the first time in Sabah, on Monday. The current operating hours for the checkpoint is until midnight which is about two hours more compared to the previous closing time which was 10pm.
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He said a total of 2,053,461 inspections were conducted in all exit points, while for entry points a total of 2,458,251 inspections were done to date. "The exit and entry points are for international and domestic routes, in which domestic means coming from or going to Labuan, the Peninsular and Sarawak," he explained. The department has also thus far issued a total of 78,207 Malaysian international passports, producing an average of 7,000 Malaysian international passports a month. "The issuance of Malaysian passports has been much easier especially since the shift to the Malaysian international passport with polycarbonate chip pages," he said.
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For foreigners, a total of 101,693 Temporary Visiting Passes were issued to foreign workers in Sabah which included those from Indonesia, the Philippines, Nepal and Myanmar, with Indonesians recording the highest figure. A total of 33,978 visa passes were also issued to expatriates working in the State.
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Musa said for enforcement activities, the department has conducted a total of 2,050 operations across the State which involved 49,000 inspections."These figure, includes 91 employers found to have failed to abide by the immigration regulations."These employers are from various sectors including plantation industry, construction and even food and beverage outlets," he said. He said they have also arrested a total of 9,230 illegal immigrants, while a total of 2,443 illegal immigrants have been charged. "We have also deported a total of 18,581 illegal immigrants comprising those from Indonesia, the Philippines and a bit from Pakistan, India as well as China," he said. "In terms of reports lodged, I think the number is not much, with a majority of reports coming in the form of questions rather than actual complaints," he added.On that note, he said he was satisfied with the overall productivity and immigration services in terms of quantity this year, adding that the figure was quite high especially when taking into account there are only 1,000 staff across the State. He said they will remain vigilant in their efforts to boost not only productivity in terms of quantity, but also quality, integrity, accountability and friendliness. "It is after all not only about the quantity, but the quality as well," he said.On another development, he said, the government has announced the RM200 incentive to be paid to all Immigration enforcement officers beginning October this year. "We will start payment this month, and this will also include the incentive which was supposed to be paid since October," he said. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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