Need to empty detention centres first, says Dept
Published on: Monday, September 05, 2011
Kota Kinabalu: The four temporary detention centres in the State will have to be emptied first before the two-month Enforcement and Deportation phase of the 5P programme for illegal immigrants begins towards the end of October."We need to empty the detention centres before integrated operations under the 4P are fully implemented because space is needed to place the illegals who will be arrested during the ops," said Sabah Immigration Director, Mohammed bin Mentek, recently."There are four temporary detention centres. In Kimanis, Papar, two in Sandakan and one in Tawau. Altogether, they hold 2,311 Filipinos and 333 Indonesans.
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"About 90 per cent of them are waiting for the issuance of their travel documents and would be deported to their respective countries."The 5P Programme involves Registration, Amnesty, Monitoring, Enforcement and Deportation. The second "P" under the 5P programme which involves amnesty for illegals will end on Oct. 10, two months after it began.The amnesty exercise is specifically for those illegals who registered during the exercise, to return to their respective countries, voluntarily."The illegals must have the registration slips and valid travel documents in order to return home and they cannot use the slips as their travel documents.
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"The registration slips are also proof that they have registered for the Immigration's biometric system under the 5P Programme," said Mohammed Mentek.Mohammed Mentek assured that no enforcement action would be taken against those who have the registration slips from Aug. 11 to Oct. 10, although other enforcement agencies like the police have started their regular operations to arrest illegals who did not register under the 5P in Sabah.
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He said illegals with the slips must return to their respective countries before Oct. 10, failing which they will face enforcement action by other government agencies that carry out operations.The third 'P' in the 5P is monitoring that would be carried out for one week at a specified date later to ensure all foreigners with the slips return home.On the number of illegals who have returned home, he said most of the 161,370 illegal immigrants who registered under the 5P had yet to go back. Less than 10 per cent have done so. Hence, he called on employers to give their full cooperation in ensuring their foreign workers who had registered under the 5P return home first and later return to Sabah without having to fulfil the cooling off period requirement.He said the fifth "P" which is deportation under the 5P, would overlap with the enforcement (4P) activities.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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