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KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia is hunting down more than
20,000 foreign nationals who have entered the country as tourists
before staying on to find jobs illegally, reports said Monday.
The visa-on-arrival scheme was
introduced last year ahead of a major campaign aimed at boosting
overseas visitor numbers but Home Minister Radzi Sheikh Ahmad said
it is being abused.
“We simplified the entry
process for foreign tourists . . . but some people had abused the
visa to stay in the country longer than the duration allowed,”
Radzi was quoted as saying by the state Bernama news agency.
The minister said tourists were
using the one-month visa to work illegally, and that most over-stayers
are from China and India, with a small number from African nations,
the New Straits Times reported.
“They are lured because we are
a prosperous nation. Many have entered the country and obtained the
VOA, but they never left,” Radzi was quoted as saying.
He said immigration officials,
police and a volunteer force are conducting daily raids to find the
over-stayers, who are deported.
Despite the visa abuse, Radzi
said the government will not scrap the scheme, citing its importance
for tourist arrivals.
Malaysia hopes to attract 20.1
million tourists in 2007, up from 17.5 million in 2006, and to draw
in receipts of some 44.5 billion ringgit ($13.00 billion).
Tourism is Malaysia’s second-largest foreign exchange earner
but it is facing stiff competition from neighbors including
Singapore and Thailand.
--AFP
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