From ‘Women tries to sneak into S’pore in car boot’, 1 Jan 2012, article in Asiaone.com.
Singapore’s Immigration & Checkpoint Authority (ICA) officers arrested a man and a woman at Woodlands Checkpoint this morning at 7.30am in a case of attempted illegal entry into Singapore. A black Malaysian-registered car, driven by a male driver, was pulled over for routine check. The driver showed signs of nervousness, prompting the ICA officers to conduct a thorough check on the vehicle.
A woman was subsequently found hiding in the boot, and was arrested along with the driver. The vehicle has been detained by ICA. The 40-year-old man was promised payment of $2,000 if he was successful in bringing the 50-year-old Chinese national into Singapore illegally.
…Those guilty of illegal entry into Singapore may face up to six months in jail and be punished with at least three strokes of the cane.
A similar payout of $2000 per job was offered to Malaysian Law Song, caught in September last year and found guilty of ferrying 200 migrant workers into Singapore over 2 years. This case followed the Feb 2011 capture of ‘kingpin’ Wu Feng Xia from Putian, China, who was allegedly linked to 200 illegal workers in Singapore over 5 years. Also in Jan last year, Malaysian syndicate leader Zuklifly Bin Muhammad was caught, having masterminded the ferrying of human cargo across the Johor Straits, bringing the total smuggler arrests to 13 in 26 MONTHS at the start of 2011.
It wasn’t always easy money to stash a migrant worker in your vehicle. Back in 1999, 20 illegal immigrants were caught entering the country in a ‘secret compartment’ beneath a Bas Kilang from Malaysia. For smuggling 19 Thai nationals and 1 PRC, the trafficker would have been paid RM20 for each immigrant conveyed, which in total was still less than transporting 1 PRC today. In 1998, Malaysian Liew Nam Chong was jailed and caned for an offer of $35 to transport a Chinese national into Singapore via his car boot. In the seventies, the rate was $40-50 for each immigrant ferried by sampan from Tanjong Pinang (Indonesia) to Singapore.
Despite the clampdown on these smuggling shenanigans, illegal immigrants and their mostly foreign middlemen continue to be a problem, and if migrants can’t afford to pay agents to enter or forge permits, they would risk life and limb to make the journey themselves, by swimming across the Johor Straits using their clothes as floatation devices, or paddling here in a rubber float with makeshift tubes as snorkels to submerge when required. Some may even hang on for dear life at the bottom of SBS buses (Illegal immigrant found hiding under SBS bus, 11 Oct 2005, Today). Interestingly, a Malaysia-registered saloon may pack up to FIVE men in its car boot (5 men found in car boot, 5 Oct 2000, ST). And they still get CANED for their efforts if they’re caught, before they could even recover from the aches of remaining in a cramped foetal position for hours.
Even if you were to pay good money for ‘premium packages’ to be delivered to your destination, you may get shoved off the boat and left to drown by a panicking middleman afraid of getting caught by the Coast Guard, which could explain why hiding in someone’s boot still remains a preferred though highly uncomfortable option. The media is quick to paint illegal immigrants as security-breaching criminals. In 1948, the xenophobia was evident when illegal immigrants were labelled undesirable ‘terrorists’, ‘cut throats’, ‘gangsters and thugs’, with even less sympathy than syndicate leaders have for their ‘commodities’. Many are really just ordinary humans desperate to eke a living or escaping from brutal regimes, and wouldn’t even think of coming if Singapore hadn’t intentionally made itself attractive to foreigners in the first place. Illegal immigrants may actually be more productive than some foreign ‘talents’ roped into society via the ‘proper channels’, because without that sense of entitlement and being in constant fear of getting caught, it would be to their benefit if they maintained a low profile and abide by the law rather than making a public nuisance of themselves as ‘legal’ migrant workers have, especially those complaining about curry smells or yanking out meters from taxis like compere Quan Yifeng did. Our forefathers were, in fact, ‘illegal immigrants’ themselves, with the same needs and dreams as any other migrant worker today. We have also honoured them with a classic SBC serial called the ‘Awakening’.
The penalty for trying to sneak OUT on the other hand, or ‘illegal departure’, is a fine of up to $2000, a jail term of 6 months, or both, with the rotan spared. The reverse of yesterday’s bust occurred in 2010, when a Malaysian was caught with a PRC in his boot at Woodlands checkpoint. He was promised RM500 or $208, almost 10 times less than what you get paid for bringing a PRC INTO the country. In 2011, 3 Indian nationals were caught hiding in a storage compartment in a Malaysian registered prime mover in an attempt to flee. The Malaysian smuggler would have been paid $500 PER illegal worker transported out. In July that year, the ICA had the cheek to add some rather corny humour into a statement concerning a routine PRC-in-a Malaysian-car-boot raid (also a $500 ‘export’ job), referring to the hidey hole as a ‘sauna’. They forgot to add that enforcement measures were going full STEAM ahead.
Overstayers aside, if illegal immigrants decided to flee, is it really necessary to detain and punish them further as payback for slipping past the ICA’s radar in the beginning? Aren’t these ‘export’ smugglers doing us all a favour and sparing the ICA of deporting efforts? It’s like an unwanted guest at your party slipped through your door because you weren’t paying attention, served a few drinks, entertained some people, but you put him in the slammer once you catch him creeping out of the window. Instead of stowing in dead giveaway Malaysian cars, it would probably be less risky for anyone wanting to escape the country by taking the cue from Mas Selemat, who left our shores undetected in an ‘improvised floatation device’. If a wanted terrorist could swim out of the country fairly easily, what more an ‘immigration offender’?
Filed under: 1940s, 1970s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010, 2011, Foreign workers, Justice system/Lawsuits, Politicians, PRCs, Violence Tagged: | Foreign workers, immigration, justice system, Politicians, Violence
