The government has little scope to help the Bangladeshis detained by the Malaysian security agencies during a nationwide crackdown against illegal immigrants.
The Malaysian authorities had given a chance to all undocumented workers to obtain legal status before it started the crackdown on September 1, said a senior foreign ministry official, on the condition of anonymity.
About 2,500 illegal immigrants of whom 400 were Bangladeshis were arrested during the crackdown.
“We have an arrangement with Kuala Lumpur to send workers legally; in this situation it is difficult for us to even request them to regularise workers without documentation,” he said, adding, “The best we can do now is help facilitate their repatriation process.”
According to sources, a total of 268,000 Bangladeshi workers obtained legal status under a special regularisation programme offered by the Malaysian government recently.
Sultana Laila Hossain, the director general of consular section of the foreign ministry, who returned from Malaysia on Tuesday, told the Dhaka Tribune, “We have instructed our mission in Malaysia to do whatever is possible to help the detained workers.”
She went to the country to oversee the activities of the Bangladeshi mission there.
Another official of the foreign ministry said the illegal immigrants were detained under the Ops 6P programme which is an “ongoing exercise” to trace, arrest, prosecute and extradite foreign nationals violating a country’s immigration and anti-human trafficking laws.
“Under the programme, respective countries will have to take back their illegal immigrants,” he said.
Those detained during the crackdown can again go to Malaysia if they get the opportunities, through legal means, but for now they have no option but to leave, he explained.
Ending a four-year stalemate, Malaysia reopened its job market for Bangladesh and recruited 198 workers in April under official arrangements.
On September 2, Malaysian news agency Bernama, quoting Malaysian Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, reported that nationals of Indonesia, Myanmar, Nepal, Cambodia, Vietnam, India, Pakistan, the Philippines, China, Nigeria and Thailand were arrested during the raid.
“This operation is not seasonal and will not end on December 31 this year. This is an ongoing operation and we will not compromise,” said Zahid Hamidi, adding that their target is to “achieve zero illegal immigrants.”
