Illegal immigration to Malaysia is the cross-border movement of people to

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

under conditions where official authorisation is lacking, breached, expired, fraudulent, or irregular. The cross-border movement of workers has become well-established in

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

, with Malaysia a major labour-receiving country and

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

and the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

the region's main labour-sending states. Managing cross-border migration (labour,

refugee A refugee, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is a person "forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as ...

and

human trafficking Human trafficking is the act of recruiting, transporting, transferring, harboring, or receiving individuals through force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of exploitation. This exploitation may include forced labor, sexual slavery, or oth ...

) has become an issue of increasing concern in Malaysia and its international relations.

Definitions

The term "illegal", when applied to "migration" and "migrant", has been replaced in recent years by "irregular" and "undocumented" on the grounds that "illegal" is inaccurate, degrading, and prejudicial. Key institutions have adopted the new terms: the UN General Assembly (1975), the International Labour Organization (2004), the European Parliament (2009), and the Associated Press (2013) and other US news agencies. The new terms are rarely used in official and academic discourse in Malaysia, where the popular term is "illegal immigrant". The term "illegals", elsewhere perceived as outdated and pejorative, is regularly used in Malaysian media. The terminology is also obscure because Malaysian law (Immigration Act 1959/63) does not distinguish between undocumented economic migrants, refugees, asylum seekers and trafficked people; all are designated as illegal immigrants. The term "illegal immigrant" designates a variety of groups who are all liable to arrest, detention and deportation for immigration offences: * People who enter clandestinely, without travel authorisation * Children born to immigrants whose births have not been registered * Those seeking asylum, refugees, and trafficked victims * Those admitted with proper authorisation but who breach the terms of admission (e.g., by entering on student or tourist visas and then working) * Those admitted with authorisation to work, but who breach the terms of that authorisation (e.g., by changing their work or employer) * Those admitted with authorisation to work, but whose work permit is wrongfully cancelled by employers in a labour dispute * Those admitted with proper authorisation, but whose authorisation to stay has expired * Those admitted with authorisation to work but whose work authorisation has expired * Refugees in Sabah who were admitted for a temporary stay under the IMM13P (which must be renewed annually), but who fail to renew * Those possessing counterfeit or forged authorisation * Those possessing official authorisation which was obtained fraudulently

Background

Patterns of migration and the roles and responses of governments in the region concerning migration are rooted in the region's history. Present-day Malaysia has been a migration crossroads, where borders were lacking or permeable.

Pre-colonial migration

Malaysia's first generations of migrants were

indigenous peoples There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...

, the

Orang Asli The Orang Asli are a Homogeneity and heterogeneity, heterogeneous Indigenous peoples, indigenous population forming a national minority in Malaysia. They are the oldest inhabitants of Peninsular Malaysia. As of 2017, the Orang Asli accounted f ...

, believed to have been part of the first wave of migration from Africa about 50,000 years ago or more-recent Asian evolution. The

Malay Peninsula The Malay Peninsula is located in Mainland Southeast Asia. The landmass runs approximately north–south, and at its terminus, it is the southernmost point of the Asian continental mainland. The area contains Peninsular Malaysia, Southern Tha ...

developed from port towns which thrived on trade routes from China to India and hosted the next migrants as merchants settled in the ports, some assimilating into the local communities. By the fifth century AD, networks of these towns had evolved into organised political spheres of influence defined by their centre rather than their borders. At the periphery, control is less certain. Borders may be permeable and control sometimes overlaps; areas might be under several powers, or none. During the second-century

Langkasuka Langkasuka was an ancient Malay Hindu-Buddhist kingdom located in the Malay Peninsula (in modern-day Thailand). Langkasuka flourished from the 2nd century to the 15th century as the oldest kingdom in the Malay Peninsula, believed to have been esta ...

kingdoms, the eighth-century

Srivijaya Srivijaya (), also spelled Sri Vijaya, was a Hinduism, Hindu-Buddhism, Buddhist thalassocracy, thalassocratic empire based on the island of Sumatra (in modern-day Indonesia) that influenced much of Southeast Asia. Srivijaya was an important ...

empire and the 15th-century

Malacca Sultanate The Malacca Sultanate (; Jawi script: ) was a Malay sultanate based in the modern-day state of Malacca, Malaysia. Conventional historical thesis marks as the founding year of the sultanate by King of Singapura, Parameswara, also known as I ...

, the centre of power shifted between Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula. In addition to their link by political rule, Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula were also linked by intermarriage between the Sumatran and Peninsular ruling elite (which led to the migration of their followers). Other significant early migrants are those now classified as ''Melayu Anak Dagang'' (non-Malays who migrated to the region and later assimilated into Malay culture, distinct from ''Melayu Anak Jati'': ethnic Malays who are native to the region, including the

Minangkabau people Minangkabau people (; ; ) are an Austronesian people, Austronesian ethnic group native to the Minangkabau Highlands of West Sumatra, Western Sumatra region on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The Minangkabau's West Sumatera homelands was th ...

from

Sumatra Sumatra () is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the list of islands by area, sixth-largest island in the world at 482,286.55 km2 (182,812 mi. ...

and the

Bugis people The Bugis people, also known as Buginese, are an Austronesian peoples, Austronesian ethnic groupthe most numerous of the three major linguistic and ethnic groups of South Sulawesi (the others being Makassar people, Makassarese and Toraja peop ...

from

Sulawesi Sulawesi ( ), also known as Celebes ( ), is an island in Indonesia. One of the four Greater Sunda Islands, and the List of islands by area, world's 11th-largest island, it is situated east of Borneo, west of the Maluku Islands, and south of Min ...

, Indonesia. Based on Malaysia's long history as a society of migrants, researchers at University Sains Malaysia say: "It is, however, pertinent to put the record straight that migration of people to the artificially created enclave known as Malaysia today dated back to centuries. Malaysia like many ex-colonies is artificial ..." Researcher Anthony Reid draws another conclusion from this history – that Malaysia, like the US and Australia, is best viewed as an

immigrant society The term immigration country describes a state whose population is growing rapidly due to immigration from other countries or in which immigrants make up a significant part of the population. The term is sometimes used as a political slogan. When ...

Refugees and asylum-seekers

Malaysia, like most of its Southeast Asian neighbours, did not sign the 1951 UN Refugee Convention and maintains that newly-arrived aliens are illegal immigrants rather than refugees. However, since the early 1970s it has allowed Muslims involved in a conflict in their own country (especially the

Moro people The Moro people or Bangsamoro people are the 13 Muslim-majority ethnolinguistic Austronesian groups of Mindanao, Sulu, and Palawan, native to the region known as the Bangsamoro (lit. ''Moro nation'' or ''Moro country''). As Muslim-majority ...

of the southern Philippines) to seek refuge in Malaysia. In 1975, Malaysia accepted thousands of

Cambodia Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline ...

n Muslims who had fled the

Pol Pot Pol Pot (born Saloth Sâr; 19 May 1925 – 15 April 1998) was a Cambodian politician, revolutionary, and dictator who ruled the communist state of Democratic Kampuchea from 1976 until Cambodian–Vietnamese War, his overthrow in 1979. During ...

regime. During the

Indochina refugee crisis The Indochina refugee crisis was the large outflow of people from the former French colonies of Indochina, comprising the countries of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, after communist governments were established in 1975. Over the next 25 years and ...

, Malaysia allowed a small number of Cambodian Muslims to immigrate (assisted by the Malaysian Muslim Welfare Organisation, funded by the

United Nations High Commission for Refugees The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, l ...

(UNHCR) and the Malaysian government. In 1980, Malaysia began admitting

Rohingya The Rohingya people (; ; ) are a stateless Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who predominantly follow Islam from Rakhine State, Myanmar. Before the Rohingya genocide in 2017, when over 740,000 fled to Bangladesh, an estimated 1.4 million Ro ...

and Acehnese Muslims who were fleeing the

persecution Persecution is the systematic mistreatment of an individual or group by another individual or group. The most common forms are religious persecution, racism, and political persecution, though there is naturally some overlap between these term ...

Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...

and

insurgency An insurgency is a violent, armed rebellion by small, lightly armed bands who practice guerrilla warfare against a larger authority. The key descriptive feature of insurgency is its asymmetric warfare, asymmetric nature: small irregular forces ...

in Indonesia. Malaysian Deputy Minister of Home Affairs

Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar Wan Junaidi bin Tuanku Jaafar (Jawi alphabet, Jawi: , born 1 February 1946) is a Malaysian politician, lawyer and former senior police officer who is the eighth and current Yang di-Pertua Negeri of Sarawak. He previously served as the 19th Pre ...

said in 2015 that his ministry has told the UNHCR several times that "Malaysia is not a signatory to its convention on refugees", and the United Nations should send refugees to another

Third-World The term Third World arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either NATO or the Warsaw Pact. The United States, Canada, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, the Southern Cone, NATO, Western European countries and oth ...

nation. Junaidi also said that refugees and migrant workers needed to observe Malaysian law in the country. According to Deputy Foreign Minister

Reezal Merican Naina Merican Reezal Merican bin Naina Merican ( Jawi: ; born 29 July 1972) is a Malaysian politician and banker who has served as the 9th chairman of the Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE) since May 2023 and member of the Penang St ...

Immigration management

Domestic politics

According to a National Registration Department (NRD) official, 60,000 illegal immigrants in the east Malaysian state of

Sabah Sabah () is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah has land borders with the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and Indonesia's North Kalima ...

received

Malaysian identity card The Malaysian identity card () is the compulsory identity card for Malaysian citizens aged 12 and above. The current identity card, known as MyKad, was introduced by the ''National Registration Department of Malaysia'' on 5 September 2001 as o ...

s (MyKads); such allegations are known as

Project IC Project IC is the name used in Malaysia to describe the allegation of systematic granting of citizenship to immigrants (whether legal or otherwise) by giving them identity document, identity cards and subsequently its current iteration, the ''MyK ...

. Former

senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...

and state assemblyman Chong Eng Leong alleged in 2012 that there are 700,000 "Project IC citizens" and that 200,000 of them are on the state electoral roll. This was done through an ethnic connection to people in certain Malaysian occupations (such as the NRD, politics or security forces). A syndicate from Pakistan has mainly Pakistani clients, and syndicates from Myanmar and Indonesia have their own clients. Filipinos with identity documents brought family members to Sabah. An officer of the Eastern Sabah Security Command said that the

corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense that is undertaken by a person or an organization that is entrusted in a position of authority to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's gain. Corruption may involve activities ...

of local authorities and the issuance of fraudulent identity cards played an important role in the increase of crime in Sabah. Former Prime Minister

Mahathir Mohamad Mahathir bin Mohamad (; ; born 10 July 1925) is a Malaysian politician, author and doctor who was respectively the fourth and seventh Prime Minister of Malaysia, prime minister of Malaysia from 1981 to 2003 and from 2018 to 2020. He was the ...

has said that illegal immigrants long resident in Malaysia should not be barred from citizenship. According to researchers Myfel Joseph Paluga and Andrea Malaya Ragragio of the

University of the Philippines Mindanao The University of the Philippines Mindanao (also referred to as UPMin or UP Mindanao) is a public research university, serving as the sixth constituent unit of the University of the Philippines System. UP Mindanao is the only constituent uni ...

, the flood of migrants from Mindanao to Sabah was partly encouraged by Sabah politicians who "wanted to be the Sultan of Sulu" after the fall of the

United Sabah National Organisation The United Sabah National Organisation (; abbreviation, abbrev: USNO) was a political party in Crown Colony of North Borneo, North Borneo and later Sabah, Malaysia. The widely known Sabah's Muslim Orang Asal, indigenous especially Tausūg peopl ...

(USNO) and

Sabah People's United Front Sabah People's United Front or in Malay ''Parti Bersatu Rakyat Jelata Sabah'' is more commonly known by its abbreviation BERJAYA, was a political party based in the state of Sabah, Malaysia. BERJAYA was formed by former United Sabah National Or ...

(BERJAYA) administrations. Following the rampant

Islamisation The spread of Islam spans almost 1,400 years. The early Muslim conquests that occurred following the death of Muhammad in 632 CE led to the creation of the caliphates, expanding over a vast geographical area; conversion to Islam was boosted ...

and Muslims migration led by USNO chief

Mustapha Harun Datu Mustapha bin Datu Harun, or Tun Mustapha for short (31 July 1918 – 2 January 1995), was a Malaysian people, Malaysian politician who served as the 3rd Chief Minister of Sabah from May 1967 to November 1975 and the 1st Yang di-Pertua Nege ...

, the Muslim population in Sabah drastically increased with negative perception from the native indigenous towards the Islamic religion also increased as it have been endangering the local culture and practice of the indigenous. As part of the Islamisation of Sabah state, Malaysia affords shelter around Sabah to Filipino Muslims escaping from the conflicts between

Philippine government The government of the Philippines () has three interdependent branches: the legislative, executive, and judicial branches. The Philippines is governed as a unitary state under a presidential representative and democratic constitutional repub ...

and their fellow separatists in their homeland of

Mindanao Mindanao ( ) is the List of islands of the Philippines, second-largest island in the Philippines, after Luzon, and List of islands by population, seventh-most populous island in the world. Located in the southern region of the archipelago, the ...

. The Eastern Sabah Security Command Security Coordinating Intelligence Officer said that although the foreigners remained in Sabah, their loyalty to their homeland (Mindanao and

Sulu Archipelago The Sulu Archipelago ( Tausug: Kapū'-pūan sin Sūg Sulat Sūg: , ) is a chain of islands in the Pacific Ocean, in the southwestern Philippines. The archipelago forms the northern limit of the Celebes Sea and southern limit of the Sulu Se ...

) in the Philippines never swayed and they brought

drugs A drug is any chemical substance other than a nutrient or an essential dietary ingredient, which, when administered to a living organism, produces a biological effect. Consumption of drugs can be via inhalation, injection, smoking, ingestio ...

smuggling Smuggling is the illegal transportation of objects, substances, information or people, such as out of a house or buildings, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations. More broadly, soc ...

and

piracy Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and valuable goods, or taking hostages. Those who conduct acts of piracy are call ...

. The Filipinos from this region are reportedly vengeful and ill-tempered and disputes often result in shooting and bloody feuds ("a culture they call Rido"). During the influx of the

Vietnamese boat people Vietnamese boat people () were refugees who fled Vietnam by boat and ship following the end of the Vietnam War in 1975. This migration and humanitarian crisis was at its highest in the late 1970s and early 1980s, but continued well into the earl ...

, the Malaysian government felt that they would threaten its national security and racial balance; most refugees resemble

Malaysian Chinese Malaysian Chinese, Chinese Malaysians, or Sino-Malaysians are Malaysians, Malaysian citizens of Chinese people, Chinese ethnicity. They form the second-largest ethnic group in Malaysia, after the Malaysian Malays, Malay majority, and , const ...

, resulting in quick repatriation. The Malaysian government blamed the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, accusing it of causing the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

and a massive influx of refugees to Vietnam's neighbours. Some Sabah Muslim MPs and State Assembly members, such as

Rosnah Shirlin Rosnah binti Abdul Rashid Shirlin (born 10 July 1972) is a Malaysian politician who served as Special Advisor to the Minister of Health Khairy Jamaluddin from September 2021 to November 2022. She served as Deputy Minister of Works from May 20 ...

and Abdul Rahim Ismail, were aware of the Filipino Muslim problem. According to Shirlin, Rahim agreed: The

Royal Commission of Inquiry on illegal immigrants in Sabah Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family or royalty Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal ...

investigated the granting of citizenship to illegal immigrants. Former National Registration Director Mohd Nasir Sugip said that he was part of a secret operation, Ops Durian Buruk (Operation Rotten Durian), during the early 1990s in which the Election Commission of Malaysia and former Deputy Home Minister

Megat Junid Megat Ayub Megat Junid bin Megat Ayub (8 December 1942 – 24 January 2008) was a Malaysian politician and direct descendant of Megat Terawis, a Bendahara of Perak. Early life Junid was born in Teluk Intan in 1942. Politics Megat Junid was a teache ...

instructed his department to issue national identity cards to foreigners to change Sabah's voting demographics. The names of 16,000 illegal immigrants were changed by the instruction of the Sabah Election Commission. Former Sabah NRD director Ramli Kamarudin said that former Sabah Chief Minister

Osu Sukam Osu bin Sukam ( Jawi: اوسو بن سوكم; born 19 February 1949) is a Malaysian politician who served as the 12th Chief Minister of Sabah from March 1999 to March 2001, Member of Parliament (MP) for Papar from August 1986 to March 2004 a ...

was present when Megat Junid gave instructions to carry out the project IC exercise. A Filipino man said that he received an identity card without applying for it, and Indian and Pakistani immigrants said that they received identity cards less than 10 years after they arrived in Sabah during the 1980s. The irregularities reportedly angered Sabahan natives, including those in neighbouring

Sarawak Sarawak ( , ) is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia. It is the largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia. Sarawak is located in East Malaysia in northwest Borneo, and is ...

. The Christian

Dayak people The Dayak (; older spelling: Dajak) or Dyak or Dayuh are the native groups of Borneo. It is a loose term for over 200 riverine and hill-dwelling ethnic groups, located principally in the central and southern interior of Borneo, each with its ...

are stateless, without birth certificates, while the newly-arrived illegal immigrants can obtain Malaysian identity cards in a short time. The Malaysian government reportedly favours Muslim asylum-seekers.

National security

In 2008, the Sabah deputy chief minister said that some illegal immigrants attempted to become Malaysian security-force members with fake identity cards. A Sulu militant in Sabah was a Malaysian

police corporal Corporal is a military rank in use by the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. The rank is usually the lowest ranking non-commissioned officer. In some militaries, the rank of corporal nominally corr ...

with family in the southern Philippines who was believed to have aided militants in illegally entering and leaving the state. A security guard from

Tawau Tawau (), formerly known as Tawao, is the capital of the Tawau District in Sabah, Malaysia. It is the third-largest city (or town)While Tawau have a population of more than 100,000 of which is considered city elsewhere in the world it is offic ...

in Sabah killed a bank officer in

Subang Jaya Subang Jaya is a city in Petaling District, Selangor, Malaysia. It comprises the southern third district of Petaling. It consists of the neighbourhoods from SS12 to SS19, UEP Subang Jaya (USJ), Putra Heights, Batu Tiga as well as PJS7, PJ ...

, Selangor during a robbery. The security guard had a fake identity card, and was later identified as an Indonesian from Sulawesi. Member of parliament

Lim Kit Siang Lim Kit Siang (; born 20 February 1941) is a retired Malaysian politician. Having held the position for a total of 29 years on three separate occasions, he is the longest-serving leader of the opposition, as well the second longest-serving m ...

asked how the security guard obtained a MyKad, enabling him to work at the bank: In addition to Sabah, the border in the

Straits of Malacca The Strait of Malacca is a narrow stretch of water, long and from wide, between the Malay Peninsula to the northeast and the Indonesian island of Sumatra to the southwest, connecting the Andaman Sea (Indian Ocean) and the South China Sea (Pa ...

between

Peninsular Malaysia Peninsular Malaysia, historically known as Malaya and also known as West Malaysia or the Malaysian Peninsula, is the western part of Malaysia that comprises the southern part of the Malay Peninsula on Mainland Southeast Asia and the list of isla ...

and

enabled Indonesian immigrants to illegally enter the country; in 2014, an overloaded migrant boat sank.

Human trafficking

Malaysia,

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

and

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

were listed in the third and lowest tier of the

US Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs o ...

's 2014

Trafficking in Persons Report The Trafficking in Persons Report, or the TIP Report, is an annual report issued since 2001 by the U.S. State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons. It ranks governments based on their perceived efforts to acknowledge a ...

. The country has made little progress to combat the exploitation of foreign migrant workers subjected to forced labour and those recruited under false pretenses and coerced into sex work. Rohingya refugees, seeking a better life in Malaysia, are frequently victimised by human traffickers who confine, beat and starve them and demand ransoms from their families. Many Filipinas, promised good jobs in other countries by brokers in the Philippines, have been trafficked to Malaysia and are vulnerable to detention by Malaysian authorities for illegal entry. Vietnamese and Chinese traffickers have shifted their prostitution rings to Malaysia, making Vietnamese women the largest number of foreign prostitutes in the country (followed by Cambodian women). Traffickers usually offer victims good-paying jobs in Malaysia; when they meet a trafficker (posing as a manager), they are imprisoned,

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault involving sexual intercourse, or other forms of sexual penetration, carried out against a person without consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person ...

d and forced into sex work. Chinese traffickers kidnapped children, maimed them and used them to beg in the streets of

Kuala Lumpur Kuala Lumpur (KL), officially the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, is the capital city and a Federal Territories of Malaysia, federal territory of Malaysia. It is the largest city in the country, covering an area of with a census population ...

. Malaysia is an electrical-parts manufacturing centre, and large companies such as

Panasonic is a Japanese multinational electronics manufacturer, headquartered in Kadoma, Osaka, Kadoma, Japan. It was founded in 1918 as in Fukushima-ku, Osaka, Fukushima by Kōnosuke Matsushita. The company was incorporated in 1935 and renamed and c ...

and

Samsung Samsung Group (; stylised as SΛMSUNG) is a South Korean Multinational corporation, multinational manufacturing Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in the Samsung Town office complex in Seoul. The group consists of numerous a ...

(as well as the

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation, doing business as McDonald's, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain. As of 2024, it is the second largest by number of locations in the world, behind only the Chinese ch ...

fast-food chain) were accused of poor treatment of workers. Cambodian housemaids have reportedly been poorly treated, and a Cambodian maid detained in a Malaysian immigration centre said that she saw three Cambodian and Vietnamese women die after severe abuse; Thai, Indonesian and Laotian prisoners were also reportedly abused. This however refuted by Malaysian Deputy Home Minister

Nur Jazlan Mohamed Nur Jazlan bin Mohamed (born 15 February 1966) is a Malaysian politician who has served as the 15th Deputy President of the Dewan Negara and Dewan Negara, Senator since June 2023. He served as the Minister of Home Affairs (Malaysia), Deputy Mi ...

who said the matter has been investigated and no deaths are actually occurred. Nevertheless, a Malaysian couple were sentenced to death for starving their Cambodian maid to death.

Child-selling Child-selling is the practice of selling children, usually by parents, legal guardians, or subsequent custodians, including adoption agencies, orphanages and Mother and Baby Homes. Where the subsequent relationship with the child is essentia ...

is ongoing, with babies brought from countries such as Thailand and Cambodia. Some are bought by infertile couples, but the less fortunate are sold to traffickers and forced to become sex slaves or beggars. Prostitution rings also offer babies from their foreign sex workers who become pregnant; some sex workers contact couples to offer their babies, since Malaysian law forbids migrant workers from having children in the country.

Social impact

In 1986, the

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, l ...

(UNHCR) attempted to integrate Filipino refugees in Sabah with local communities if it could not repatriate them to the Philippines; however, this was opposed by the Sabah state government and local residents. The UNHCR tried a similar solution in 2015, issuing refugee cards in West Malaysia without government approval.

Policy

The

Immigration Department of Malaysia The Immigration Department of Malaysia (; abbreviated as JIM) is a department of the Government of Malaysia, Malaysian federal government that provides services to Malaysian citizens, permanent residents and foreign visitors. The department is r ...

has promised that Malaysia will be free from illegal immigrants in 2020.

Amnesty programme

In 2011, Malaysia introduced Program 6P to reduce the number of illegal immigrants. The 6P is shorthand for six Malay words beginning with ''p'': ''pendaftaran'' (registration), ''pemutihan'' (legalisation), ''pengampunan'' (amnesty), ''pemantauan'' (supervision), ''penguatkuasaan'' (enforcement) and ''pengusiran'' (deportation). Illegal immigrants were given three weeks to accept the offer or face legal penalties if found without a valid travel document or work permit. There was a call to strengthen the programme by monitoring management companies appointed as intermediaries between employers and illegal foreign workers.

Enforcement

Malaysian authorities have frequently cracked down on illegal immigrants (sometimes without notice), with more frequent enforcement since 2014. Illegal immigrants are imprisoned, caned and deported. In early 2017, a former employee of the Malaysian Registration Department (JPN) was sentenced to 156 years in prison for giving illegal citizenship to Filipino immigrants in Sabah.

Regional co-operation

A joint border commission has been formed with the Philippines to patrol from the southern Philippines to

East Malaysia East Malaysia (), or the Borneo States, also known as Malaysian Borneo, is the part of Malaysia on and near the island of Borneo, the world's third-largest island. East Malaysia comprises the states of Sabah, Sarawak, and the Federal Territory ...

, and Thailand has agreed to lengthen its border wall along the Malaysian state of

Kedah Kedah (), also known by its honorific Darul Aman (Islam), Aman (دار الأمان; Arabic for 'The Safe Abode') and historically as Queda, is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia, located in the northwestern part of ...

to curb the flow of illegal workers across the Malay–Thai border. Spanish Ambassador to Malaysia has urged the country to develop closer ties with other ASEAN nations to solve the immigrant problem: "Close understanding between Asean countries would result in a more effective approach to identify the individuals who entered the country illegally and without identification papers. This would facilitate the process of sending them back to their countries of origin". Malaysia received two

Bay-class patrol boat The Bay class is a class of eight armed patrol boats, built by Austal and used by the Customs Marine Unit of the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service. They entered service during the late 1990s and early 2000s, and are primarily used ...

s from

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

in 2015, and said that the vessels would be used to protect their maritime borders from illegal migration across the

. Before a November 2016 meeting between Philippine President

Rodrigo Duterte Rodrigo Roa Duterte (, ; born March 28, 1945) is a Filipino lawyer and politician who served as the 16th president of the Philippines from 2016 to 2022. He is the first Philippine president from Mindanao, and is the oldest person to assum ...

and Malaysian Prime Minister

Najib Razak Mohammad Najib bin Abdul Razak (, ; born 23 July 1953) is a Malaysian politician who served as the sixth Prime Minister of Malaysia from 2009 to 2018. In 2020, he was convicted of corruption in the 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal, on ...

Putrajaya Putrajaya (), officially the Federal Territory of Putrajaya (), is the administrative centre of Malaysia. The Seat of government, seat of the Government of Malaysia, federal government of Malaysia was moved in 1999 from Kuala Lumpur to Putrajay ...

, both leaders agreed to deport illegal Filipino migrants and refugees in Sabah back to the Philippines and signed agreements to improve the social conditions of legal Filipino migrants and expatriates in the state with a school, hospital, and consulate. That month, Thai Defence Minister

Prawit Wongsuwan Prawit Wongsuwon (, , ; born 11 August 1945) is a Thai politician and retired army officer who served as the First deputy prime minister from 2014 to 2023, Minister of Defence from 2008 to 2011 during the government of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejj ...

announced a plan to replace the southern Malay–Thai border fence with a wall; Wongsuwan got the idea from a meeting in

Laos Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR), is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by Myanmar and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the southeast, and Thailand to the west and ...

with his Malaysian counterparts.