Kotaraya or Jalan Silang in Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, is called 'mini Dhaka' by locals and is allegedly home to illegal immigrants. But the immigration department's operation shows that the number of illegal immigrants there is less than 6 percent.
However, Kotaraya has always been considered a 'hotspot' to control migrants, said Malaysian Immigration Department director-general Datuk Ruslin Jusoh.
He also said that the immigration department is always monitoring the 220 places known for immigrants in the country. He said this after an interview on Bernama TV in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday (February 13).
Among the 220 locations, Jalan Silang, Kotaraya Complex, Bukit Bintay and Masjid India have always been the most important, Jusoh said. These places are always under the surveillance of the Immigration Department.
He said Kotaraya and Jalan Silang are now called 'mini Dhaka' because immigrants from Bangladesh gather here. Actually Dhaka is the capital of Bangladesh. There is no such place in Malaysia. Again, the immigrants who come to Masjid India are mostly immigrants from India. Similarly, Chinatown has more Chinese immigrants.
Jusoh said, immigrants gather in these places, to meet the people of their country or to do their necessary work. Even though raids are conducted on the basis of complaints, illegal immigrants are not detained much. For example, checking the data of 300 people in Kotaraya, it can be seen that less than 20 of them are illegal immigrants. Most have valid documents.
He said, the idea among the locals is that foreigners mean illegal immigrants. But we also have to accept that immigrants are mostly here legally. They have the necessary documents.
But I am not blaming the locals because they may be disappointed to see a lot. So we conduct raids whenever we get complaints. But it appears that almost all of them have valid passports and are working here legally. However, we are doing regular and follow-up monitoring of other hotspots including Kotaraya. So as not to become a safe haven for illegal immigrants, Jusoh said.
He also said that the immigration department has conducted a total of 1,687 operations from the first day of January to the 8th of February this year. Meanwhile, the information of 19873 immigrants has been verified. Out of which 10 thousand 467 people were detained.
He also said that 75 employers have been arrested for illegal recruitment so far this year.