JK Associates principal consultant Khen Han Ming said many Nigerian criminals were entering the country posing as students and are getting away with it because proper check-and-balance mechanisms were wanting.
“We let foreigners into our country too easily and have very little control about what happens to them or their whereabouts once they have entered,” he told FMT.
“In some countries like Thailand, there is a need for foreigners to report to immigration authorities every 90 days, even when they are on a long-term visa.”
Bukit Aman had said that more than one third of the 358 foreign students arrested since 2015 were Nigerians, according to The Star.
In 2014, Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had said the authorities were worried over the increasing crime rate among Nigerian students, with about 400 being in prison for various offences at the time.
“We have recorded 40 cases of violent crimes involving Nigerian students here, 505 cases of over-staying and immigration-related offences, and 1,003 cases involving commercial crimes,” he was quoted as saying.
The home minister added that the Nigerian students were also said to be involved with triads and criminal groups in Thailand and Japan.
Khen said current check-and-balance measures existed “mostly only on paper.”
He said measures that were needed included enforcing regulations which require institutions of higher learning to report foreign students who do not show up for classes to the authorities.
The higher education ministry makes it a requirement for international students to maintain a minimum 80% or satisfactory attendance for all classes.
If a student fails to comply, or is absent for three consecutive days without valid supporting documents, the institutions are supposed to notify the ministry, the police and the immigration department.
However, there are institutions that ignore the rules set in place and turn a blind eye over the issue of “absent students”, Khen said.
There are also bogus institutions with no classes, and which worked with syndicates to assist people to get into the country and reside here on the pretext of being students, he added.
Khen also said many Nigerian “students” were getting employed in places like entertainment outlets, restaurants, bars and hotels, as they only needed to show their student status to get part-time jobs.
“What we really need is better collaboration and increased coordination between the agencies and relevant parties, such as the colleges, sponsors and landlords,” Khen said.
He said sponsors, homeowners, hotel operators and residence management bodies should be required to refer to the immigration department to confirm details provided by the visa-holders they were dealing with.
The details would include photographic evidence of the student’s residence and bank account information.
He said such measures would not only help the authorities in combatting illicit trade, but also terrorism and arms smuggling.
Khen said the authorities on the ground must also follow through with policies that are introduced.
“We can have these reporting measures in place but if there is no movement on the ground it will only exist on paper,” he said, adding that issues like corruption and lack of resources and manpower would make proper enforcement challenging.
He also recommended that the home ministry scrutinises attendance records of foreign students in colleges from time to time, rather than wait for colleges to report those absent from class.
“The higher education ministry can also include as a licensing requirement the home ministry’s approval or recommendations in relation to a student’s attendance, to help vet the colleges,” he said.
Attempts to reach the police and immigration department for comment on the matter were unsuccessful.
http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2015/12/28/zahid-african-students-marrying-locals-for-citizenship/