BALING: The Malaysian Immigration Department (JIM) will now impose compounds on foreigners who overstay in the country for no more than 90 days, effective next month, said Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail.
He said the move aims to expedite the legal process by eliminating the need to open investigation papers and bring cases to court.
“When we impose a compound, it means the case does not proceed to prosecution. Previously, all overstay cases required investigation papers to be opened and had to go through court proceedings.
“Now, there is a category where we impose compounds, specifically on those who overstay for no more than 90 days,” he told reporters after launching the “Kampung Angkat and Sekolah Angkat MADANI JIM” programme at Sekolah Kebangsaan Rambong Pulai today.
Saifuddin said foreigners who overstay between one and 30 days, the compound is RM30 per day, up to a maximum of RM900.
Meanwhile, those who overstay between 31 and 60 days will face an automatic compound of RM1,000, and those who overstay between 61 and 90 days will be compounded RM2,000.
“But if they overstay for more than 90 days, for example, nine years, an investigation paper will still be opened for prosecution,” he said.
Saifuddin said the new measure is expected to reduce the time needed to complete legal action from 14 days to just one day, allowing for faster repatriation of offenders and easing congestion at JIM detention depots nationwide.
“This approach also allows foreigners who overstay due to reasonable circumstances to settle the matter quickly,” he added.
According to him, as of last Aug 30, a total of 35,225 illegal immigrants had been detained for various immigration offences nationwide this year.
He said the arrests were the result of 9,500 operations carried out by the Immigration Department involving checks on 152,000 foreigners nationwide.
“Meanwhile, a total of 36,557 foreigners have been deported to their countries of origin as of Aug 28. This figure does not include the new arrests of 35,225 people this year,” he said.
In another development, Saifuddin Nasution said investigations were still in progress into a Malaysian man who was reported to have been arrested with two M16 rifles and 450 rounds of ammunition in Thailand recently.
“I have been fully briefed by the police on the status of this issue. Since the arrest was made in Thailand, the Thai side will conduct an investigation, and it is customary for them to keep us informed of developments.
“We have also profiled the suspect, and based on initial investigations, there is no indication that he is linked to syndicates or large, organised crime groups,” he said. – Bernama