Taken to task for ‘overlooking’ illegal settlement

SEREMBAN: The discovery of an illegal settlement involving undocumented Indonesians in Nilai near here complete with a makeshift school for their children should be a wake-up call to all enforcement agencies, says Adnan Ahmad.

The state Malaysian Armed Forces Veteran Association chairman said enforcement teams need to do more to prevent the opening of such settlements, adding that they should be able to quickly detect such activities in future.

“The illegal settlement in Nilai was not located in the middle of nowhere.

“Sometimes it makes me wonder if the authorities only knew about this now or knew about it some time ago but did not do anything about it,” he said.

Adnan said appropriate action must be taken against anyone who flouts the law.

Citing an example, he said a former armed forces veteran in Perak was jailed after he was found guilty of encroaching into government-owned land several years ago.

“If a veteran who had served the nation can be sent to jail for encroaching into government land, then similar action should also be considered against the wrongdoers in this case,” he said, adding that the enforcement authorities need to be vigilant when carrying out their duties as this concerned the safety of the people.

Malaysian Public Service Society chairman Andrew Raju said the existence of the illegal settlement showed a lack of enforcement.

“How can an illegal settlement located only about 1km away from a residential area be allowed to be in existence for such a long time?

“This is clearly a case of poor enforcement,” he said.

Raju said the authorities also need to act against the owner of the land where the settlement had been set up.

“Nilai is a bustling township and here you have an illegal settlement just five minutes from where we have institutions of higher learning.

“The group which had been detained may have been here to only earn a living but what if this was a group with an ulterior motive planning something more sinister?” he said.

He said someone has to be responsible for this as it compromised the people’s safety.

“The authorities need to step up enforcement as I am sure these illegals have to go out to town to get their supplies for their daily needs,” he added.

MCA Civil Society Movement Coordination Bureau head Ng Kian Nam said stern action has to be taken against the foreigners for the offence.

“The authorities need to take prompt and stern action against the foreigners to send a message across to would-be offenders that our government does not condone such wrongdoings,” he said.

Ng concurred with the others that the settlement was able to exist for some time due to a lack of enforcement.

“The settlement was located very close to other residential areas and the foreigners should have been detected when they just started building their homes,” he said.

He said this was a serious matter as the illegals posed a security risk.

“We have to plug any loopholes in the relevant enforcement regulations so that our teams can act faster against the wrongdoers in future,” he added.