STARTING from 2024, a large-scale operation will be launched throughout Sarawak to locate illegal foreign workers.
The state labour authorities and the Malaysian Immigration Department, police, and other enforcement agencies will coordinate the operation.
Deputy Minister in the Premier’s Department Datuk Gerawat Gala today said the exercise would begin once the ongoing state labour recalibration programme ended on December 31.
The programme is meant to enable employers to register their foreign workers in Sarawak.
“They are given a chance to register those workers still without working permits, especially the foreigners,” Gala said.
“After December 31, a large-scale ops will be carried out to locate all those without working permits, especially the foreign workers.
“We warn all employers to take note that harbouring illegal foreigners is a serious offence,” he said in a statement.
Gala is in charge of labour and immigration matters.
He said employers still harbouring illegal foreign workers could be fined between RM10,000 and RM50,000 for each of them.
The errant employer could also be jailed up to a year for each offence, he noted.
Gala said many foreign workers were employed in the following sectors: service, construction, agriculture and plantation, logging, and sawmill and other timber production. – The Vibes, December 11, 2023.
