FOREIGN WORKER LEVY IN SABAH STATE TO BE HALVED

KOTA KINABALU (Malaysia), June 8 (Bernama) -- The Home Ministry will reduce
the foreign worker levy in Sabah by 50 per cent from July 1 to Oct 31, said its
minister, Hishammuddin Hussein.

He said the ministry would also give a second chance to employers in the
state to register foreign workers who had been working illegally.

"I hope the employers will take advantage of the opportunities. We
understand their problems and they should reciprocate in solving the illegal
immigrant problems," he said in a statement Sunday.

He said an integrated operation would be carried out to weed out illegal
immigrants after the deadline.

"This will enable the authorities to have their data and trace them. Until
May 15, the Immigration Department had issued work permits to 20 per cent or
48,477 foreign workers through their respective embassies while the status of
240,260 more workers is still unknown," he said.

He said the ministry would propose to the Cabinet to merge the Cabinet
Committee on Illegal Immigrants and the Cabinet Committee on Foreign Workers as
their functions overlapped.

On operations against illegal immigrants in Sabah between August and Oct
last year, he said 312,837 foreign workers had been registered.
-- BERNAMA