Immigration Department seeks more staff
KUCHING: The state Immigration Department hopes to get 1,900 staff members to add to its present 497-strong workforce so that it can better patrol the state's numerous entry points.
Its director Robert Lian said ideally the department would need 2,400 staff members.
“We feel that the number of personnel we have at present is not enough. More would be better because Sarawak is a big state,” he said yesterday.
Sarawak’s land border with Indonesia and Brunei is the longest in the country. The state also has 32 entry points including airports and ports.
Lian said border posts were usually manned by two people while Immigration complexes at larger crossing points such as Tebedu, Sungai Tujuh and Tedungan had more staff and facilities.
He said the department was conducting a study with the Public Services Department to find out how many more personnel it needed and to recommend the creation of new positions.
Lian also appealed to community leaders in villages near the border to report the presence of illegal immigrants to the authorities.
He said some illegal immigrants were believed to seek shelter in villages before moving on.
Last year, immigration officers arrested 325 people for entering the state illegally or overstaying.
Earlier, Lian witnessed the handover of duties from former state Immigration deputy director Abdul Rahman Md Noor to his successor Rodzuan Malek.
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