KUCHING: Community leaders and elected representatives must be more proactive to ensure that there are no stateless and illegal immigrants living in their midst.
Deputy Home Affairs Minister Datuk Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said it is the responsibility of community leaders and elected representatives to check if there are foreigners living among them.
“If they find there are indeed stateless people and illegal immigrants living among them, then it’s their duty to alert the relevant authorities so that they can investigate,” he told The Borneo Post here yesterday.
He also urged the relevant authorities such as the Immigration Department and National Registration Department to act whenever there were complaints.
“They must be ready to investigate if there are indeed stateless people living in the Senadin area and in every nook and corner of the state for that matter.”
He said the government viewed the presence of illegal immigrants and stateless people in the country as very serious as their presence could be detrimental to the security of the country.
“We must be vigilant at all times and we cannot be complacent when it comes to safeguarding our country.”
He was commenting on the report of Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) Senadin Division that at least 100 stateless people were living in the slump area of Pujut in Miri.
According to PRS Senadin Division chief Dr Richard Wil Uban, most of the stateless people had been documented during their recent dialogue with them.
It was reported that while the parents were working, their children had been left wondering about as they were not sent to school due to their predicaments.
“The relevant authorities must do something to assist them. If they could be assisted then they should be given proper documents and if they are indeed illegal immigrants then they should be deported to their respective countries,” said Wil, who is also a political secretary to the chief minister.
Meanwhile, state immigration director Datu Robert Lian said they would check and investigate the matter.
“We have to verify if indeed they are stateless individuals. There is a difference between stateless people and illegal immigrants.
“Stateless people are those running away from their respective countries and come here to live for whatever reasons while illegal immigrants enter the country with proper documents but have overstayed due perhaps to marriage or employment,” he said.
Robert added that his department’s approach had been to investigate and study each case before taking further action.
“We normally work with the various embassies concerning their citizens if they breached our laws. Normally we will deport illegal immigrants once they are given the necessary documents by their respective embassies,” he said.