“Stop turning a blind eye to student visa abuse”

Anti-crime activist says perception that people can do anything in Malaysia with money must be stopped to stop foreigners running drug syndicates locally.

EXCLUSIVE

PETALING JAYA: The perception among foreigners that they can do anything in Malaysia as long as they have money must stop, said anti-crime activist Sri R. Sanjeevan.

Commenting on a Star Online report, in which a top Bukit Aman police official lamented that a large number of Nigerian drug syndicate members entered the country as private university students, Sanjeevan said syndicates held a belief that they could do as they please in Malaysia because they had money.

The Malaysian Crime Watch Task Force (MyWatch) chairman said the abuse of student visas had been going on for so long that it was impossible that the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) was not aware of the problem.

He also slammed private institutions of higher learning for turning a blind eye to the problem for so long.

“There are many private institutions which know that the students are abusing the visas granted to them to study
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“These students do not attend classes and the institutions do not do their part by informing the authorities.”

He said proper screening of the prospective student’s education background should be carried out when a person applied to an educational institution. He suggested that MOHE  take proactive action by taking drastic measures, including revoking the education licences of institutions which did not cooperate with the authorities

Sanjeevan noted that neighbouring Singapore did not have this problem due to their strict laws, policies and enforcement.

He felt that the “ineffective” National Anti-Drugs Agency should be disbanded and absorbed into Bukit Aman’s Narcotics Criminal Investigation Department (NCID).

Malaysia Crime Prevention Foundation vice-chairman Lee Lam Thye, when contacted, said the government must tighten procedures for entry into the country for the purpose of education.

“We are caught in a situation where we want more foreign students to come here while balancing the social and security concerns and needs of the local community.”

“The government must make sure those who come here to study are genuine students. It has to screen the students coming in and carry out comprehensive background checks.”

In the Star Online report yesterday, NCID director Comm Mohd Mokhtar Mohd Shariff said 798 Nigerian drug syndicate members had been arrested over the past six years. Of this number, 426 came in as private university students.

“They give outrageous reasons for coming. Some come here to study English, some to learn golf!”

He said it was absurd that Nigerians came to study English in Malaysia even though they came from a Commonwealth country with a reasonable standard of the language.