CNI News
15 Dec 2022
Myanmar nationals, who are trying to sneak into Malaysia from the Thai-Malay border, have been urged to be more cautious as security has been tightened at the border by the two countries, labour activists in Malaysia told the CNI.
Security has been tightened at the border after a bomb went off at the Thai side of the border, according to a statement issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs of Malaysia.
U Babu Gyi, who has been helping Myanmar workers in Malaysia, told the CNI, "Security has been tightened at the border after the bomb explosion. More checkpoints will be set up. Police and military patrols will be increased. So, it will be more difficult for illegal migrant to sneak into Malaysia. I don't think illegal migrants should not come to Malaysia at the moment."
Illegal migrants detained at the Malaysian border.
Currently, Malaysian authorities are making more arrests of illegal migrants, most of whom are from Myanmar. Authorities in Thailand and Malaysia are detaining illegal migrants from Myanmar on a daily basis.
Authorities in both countries have tightened security for border crossing under the pretense of the explosion at the border in Thailand to prevent illegal migrants from sneaking into their countries, General Secretary U Chit Kaung of the Assistance Association for Myanmar Migrant Workers told the CNI.
He told the CNI, "Authorities in the two countries want to control the cross border travelling including of illegal migrants. We do not encourage Myanmar citizens to illegally come to Malaysia because there are many laws for illegal migration in Malaysia. They are taking action in accordance with the law. And we still haven't known the policies of the new government."
Although activists have urged Myanmar nationals not to come to Malaysia illegally, a large number of Myanmar workers sneak into Malaysia due to the economic crisis and high rates of unemployment in Myanmar.
A scene at the border of Thailand and Malaysia in 2020. (AFP)
U Babu Gyi told the CNI that he urged Myanmar workers who intend to illegally enter Malaysia to contact trustworthy agents because of the tightened security at the border.
He said, "There are many agents working at the Thai-Malaysia border. There are many illegal Myanmar migrants who could successfully sneaked into Malaysia. So, they should contact trustworthy agents because there are many agents who are irresponsible. In the past, I told Myanmar workers not to sneak into Malaysia but I cannot tell them so under the current circumstances in Myanmar. They have to spend large sums of money to sneak into Malaysia. I just want to tell them to contact trustworthy agents."
Recently, Malaysian authorities have approved more than 370,000 applications of foreign workers and there are more than 1.4 million foreign workers including 500,000 workers in the manufacturing sector, over 300,000 workers in the construction sector, about 100,000 workers in the services sector and about 100,000 workers in the agriculture sector, according to the statistics of the Home Affairs Ministry of Malaysia.
