Malaysian State to Whip 400 Illegal Immigrants

After a four-month amnesty has expired for all illegal immigrants in Malaysia, one southern state is beginning to crackdown on stragglers. Over 400 illegal immigrants will be whipped for their failure to depart. These punitive measures have been decried by Indonesia and the Philippines. Yet along with such cruel and unusual punishment, Malaysia also seems to be biting the hand that feeds it. Businesses recently announced that they would lose close $315 million due to late delivery charges caused by the labor shortage which resulted from the government’s policies. – YaleGlobal

Malaysian State to Whip 400 Illegal Immigrants

Friday, November 15, 2002

JAKARTA (JP): More than 400 illegal immigrants, mostly Indonesians, have been sentenced to be whipped in just one Malaysian state after a nationwide crackdown, AFP reported.

Malaysia Chief Minister Abdul Ghani Othman said a total of 734 illegal immigrants had been jailed and 403 sentenced to a whipping since the expiry of an amnesty on July 31.

Abdul Ghani said between 8,000 and 10,000 illegal immigrants were estimated to remain in the southern state, down from 97,800 at the beginning of the year.

Figures for the numbers jailed or caned nationwide in Malaysia's 13 states were not immediately available.

Some 468,000 illegal immigrants returned home voluntarily during the four-month amnesty period.

Malaysia's crackdown was denounced in the Philippines and Indonesia, the neighbouring countries most affected, as "arrogant", "insulting" and "inhumane".

Also on Thursday, Malaysian developers announced that they likely stand to lose 1.2 billion ringgit (315 million dollars) in late delivery penalty charges because of a critical labour shortage caused by the migrant crackdown.

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