KUCHING, March 4 — The state Border Security Committee (SBSC) today said more resources will be allocated for intelligence-centric projects to reduce and curb illegal entry from Kalimantan to Sarawak.

Its chairman Tan Sri James Masing said despite the roadblocks being carried out by the police, general operation force, military, immigration, and customs, illegal immigrants still sneak into the state.

He said the authorities will now have to resort to conducting raids on suspected hide-outs to catch the illegal immigrants off guard

"This is why there should be more resources allocated for integrated intelligence projects between the agencies involved like police, general operation force, military, immigration and customs.

"Hopefully, we can gain information and strategise to prevent the illegal entries,” Masing said in a statement.

He said the SBSC at its meeting yesterday discussed issues concerning illegal immigrant and ways to halt the activities of "tekongs” who arrange for the undocumented migrants to sneak into Sarawak for various purposes, such as seeking employment, doing illegal business and smuggling subsidised goods into neighbouring Kalimantan.

He added that the tekongs seem to be involved in a very lucrative business of transporting these illegal immigrants to their destinations in Sarawak.

"What’s even worse is that there are employers and legal foreign workers who are harbouring these [undocumented migrants],” Masing, who is also Minister for Infrastructure and Port Development, added.

The meeting was also briefed by an officer from the Ministry of Modernisation of Agriculture, Native Land and Regional Development regarding plantation estates located near the Sarawak/Kalimantan border. 

According to the officer, there are 699 large plantation estates located at the border with the largest number being in Miri, followed by Bintulu and Mukah.

"In 2020, the total number of foreign workers in the plantation sector in Sarawak was 68,960, including over 16,000 in Miri, over 15,000 in Bintulu and 10,000 in Mukah,” he said.

He added that the ministry has drawn up a site surveillance plan for the agro-community sector which aims, amongst others, to ensure that all plantation estates comply with the Covid-19 SOPs set by the Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) and to create more awareness regarding the matter among industry players and workers.