Malaysia has scheduled another crackdown on illegal immigrants right after Ramadan. Already, Kuala Lumpur has given fair warning to all undocumented aliens to avail themselves of an amnesty and leave the country voluntarily before the authorities begin to hunt them down for deportation.
Malaysia expects to evict 400,000 of its 1.7 million illegal foreign workers. Most of these illegals are from Indonesia but a large number are Filipinos. The largest concentrations of undocumented Filipinos are in the southern state of Sabah, which is less than half a day away by boat from Sulu. They work as small merchants, odd jobbers and plantation workers. Many have grown strong roots in Malaysia, having stayed there for years and finding the risk of arrest and a lashing preferable to scraping out a hardscrabble life back home. Some have been away for so long they have nothing to return to. Because so much is at stake, they will most likely dodge deportation for as long as they can rather than go quietly.
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