"Why look for Islamic State (IS) sympathisers and terror cells when you can't address issues that are right in front of your eyes?" - M Saravanan.
The Deputy Youth and Sports Minister was taking it personal, blaming the government and its agencies for not preventing immigrant colonies from spreading, especially in the Selayang market. He said this after meeting the family of M. Kamarajan, 33, who was stabbed to death outside Selayang Market in the early hours of Jan 13.
Saravanan was alluding to the recent spate of violent skirmishes that occurred in the Selayang market on Jan 13 which also left another man and a toddler injured as a consequence.
He also warned that Kamarajan's death has to serve as a warning to authorities to take action and clamp down on foreigners that were allegedly involved in these attacks.
"Operations shouldn't just be done for a week and then forgotten. A man has already died, let's not forget this and deal with this issue immediately," he said, adding that he will be meeting with the Home Ministry in the near future to discuss the influx of immigrants in Selayang Market.
Saravanan said the Immigration Department needs to take a more proactive approach to handle the matter.
Our condolences and sympathy to Kamarajan's family, and others. If we flip through the record, even policemen were killed by foreigners but only a small portion of the illegals are involved in crime. What would be Saravanan's comment had Kamarajan met his fate in the hands of locals? Blame the police?
However, Saravanan cannot just put the blame solely on the Home Ministry and the Immigration Department. While such incidents are 'quite remote', the deputy minister should realise that the problems of illegal immigrants are always on the Home Ministry's top agenda.
I don't want to go into details what led to the problems but the number of illegal workers colonies had been reduced significantly over the years, and efforts are underway to put a check on it.
The police force - with about 115,000 personnel - and another 11,000 with the Immigration Dept (JIM) cannot be burdened with combating crime and flushing out illegal immigrants alone. The public should support and assist the authority. Both are under staffed and shorthanded.
Politicians like Saravanan are well aware of it, and should start telling employers in places like Selayang market, Seri Kembangan market, Brickfields, the 'kuils', factories and others to engage the workers legally and not to protect them.
In many occasions, politicians had used their influence to 'help' those nabbed in anti-immigrant operations conducted by the police and JIM, and they too gave their 'soft permitting' in hoarding them. Doesn't he know this?
I don't know if Saravanan had ever done that but JIM enforcement officers sometimes are caught in dilemma over such 'intervention' each time an ops is launched. Politician names usually pop up, and some of those brought to lock ups would be freed the next day.
Corruption? Maybe, but JIM officials are usually strict about it. However, it takes only a call from a politician to overturn their decision. And the blames will always go to JIM and the police.
Does he know who 'controls' the illegal immigrants' colony in Cameron Highlands? Why didn't he raise it at the Dewan Rakyat?
The Immigration Dept had and is doing its best to overcome the issue. We should appreciate and assist them by feeding information about the existence of Indian, Bangladesh, Indonesian, Myanmar and other colonies in the country.
Blaming game leads to nowhere. Its easy to blame others but what have we contributed in helping the government and respective authorities in overcoming such problems? What is our social obligation in ensuring our compound is free from such complications?
What's the point of enforcing a law if we ourselves break it?
We need to have a fair judgement on JIM, the police, the Home Ministry and others. Just because of one incident, we take the whole administration to task. "Disebabkan seekor nyamuk, kelambu dibakar!"
By the way, does Saravanan feel the police should stop hunting down the IS members and sympathisers and instead help JIM in stamping out the illegal immigrant?
The Deputy Youth and Sports Minister was taking it personal, blaming the government and its agencies for not preventing immigrant colonies from spreading, especially in the Selayang market. He said this after meeting the family of M. Kamarajan, 33, who was stabbed to death outside Selayang Market in the early hours of Jan 13.
Saravanan was alluding to the recent spate of violent skirmishes that occurred in the Selayang market on Jan 13 which also left another man and a toddler injured as a consequence.
He also warned that Kamarajan's death has to serve as a warning to authorities to take action and clamp down on foreigners that were allegedly involved in these attacks.
"Operations shouldn't just be done for a week and then forgotten. A man has already died, let's not forget this and deal with this issue immediately," he said, adding that he will be meeting with the Home Ministry in the near future to discuss the influx of immigrants in Selayang Market.
Saravanan said the Immigration Department needs to take a more proactive approach to handle the matter.
Our condolences and sympathy to Kamarajan's family, and others. If we flip through the record, even policemen were killed by foreigners but only a small portion of the illegals are involved in crime. What would be Saravanan's comment had Kamarajan met his fate in the hands of locals? Blame the police?
However, Saravanan cannot just put the blame solely on the Home Ministry and the Immigration Department. While such incidents are 'quite remote', the deputy minister should realise that the problems of illegal immigrants are always on the Home Ministry's top agenda.
I don't want to go into details what led to the problems but the number of illegal workers colonies had been reduced significantly over the years, and efforts are underway to put a check on it.
The police force - with about 115,000 personnel - and another 11,000 with the Immigration Dept (JIM) cannot be burdened with combating crime and flushing out illegal immigrants alone. The public should support and assist the authority. Both are under staffed and shorthanded.
Politicians like Saravanan are well aware of it, and should start telling employers in places like Selayang market, Seri Kembangan market, Brickfields, the 'kuils', factories and others to engage the workers legally and not to protect them.
In many occasions, politicians had used their influence to 'help' those nabbed in anti-immigrant operations conducted by the police and JIM, and they too gave their 'soft permitting' in hoarding them. Doesn't he know this?
I don't know if Saravanan had ever done that but JIM enforcement officers sometimes are caught in dilemma over such 'intervention' each time an ops is launched. Politician names usually pop up, and some of those brought to lock ups would be freed the next day.
Corruption? Maybe, but JIM officials are usually strict about it. However, it takes only a call from a politician to overturn their decision. And the blames will always go to JIM and the police.
Does he know who 'controls' the illegal immigrants' colony in Cameron Highlands? Why didn't he raise it at the Dewan Rakyat?
The Immigration Dept had and is doing its best to overcome the issue. We should appreciate and assist them by feeding information about the existence of Indian, Bangladesh, Indonesian, Myanmar and other colonies in the country.
Blaming game leads to nowhere. Its easy to blame others but what have we contributed in helping the government and respective authorities in overcoming such problems? What is our social obligation in ensuring our compound is free from such complications?
What's the point of enforcing a law if we ourselves break it?
We need to have a fair judgement on JIM, the police, the Home Ministry and others. Just because of one incident, we take the whole administration to task. "Disebabkan seekor nyamuk, kelambu dibakar!"
By the way, does Saravanan feel the police should stop hunting down the IS members and sympathisers and instead help JIM in stamping out the illegal immigrant?