“LENIENT” sentences handed by the courts on employers of foreign labourers has only emboldened them to break the law, said Immigration director-general Mustafar Ali.

Mustafar said his department caught 1,300 employers of illegal foreign workers and rounded up 44,000 undocumented labourers in 14,000 operations so far this year.

He said he has yet to see an employer go to jail for harbouring illegal workers, though there are other stiffer sentences the court could hand down, like caning, or in extreme cases the freezing financial assets for possible forfeiture.

The freezing of the assets and forfeiture are provided for under the Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001.

“We are looking for a better deterrent,” he said.

“The sentences of the court must be heavier. It is also the expectation of the public.”

He said employers thumbed their noses at his department’s soft approach in reminding them of the need to comply with the law.

“We normally would warn the employers but they are not listening. They will still hire illegals,” he said.

Mustafar said it is probably cheaper to pay the fines than the levy, the cost of health screening and other costs of bringing in foreign labour into the country.

He said some employers would register workers as “plantation workers”, where the levy is lower than for the manufacturing or service sectors.

In the peninsula, the levy for a plantation worker is RM640 while the levy for the manufacturing or service sectors is over RM1,000.

The majority of employers caught are from the peninsular as only 32 are caught in Sarawak, Mustafar told reporters in Kuching after attending the department’s monthly “perhimpunan setia berjasa” gathering today.

He said while the majority of illegals caught have been deported, there are still some 8,800 in detention centres nationwide waiting for court dates. – November 29, 2018.