African students marry local girls to get citizenship and premises licence - Ahmad Zahid

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said there are Malaysian women willing to be the wives of African students to qualify the group to obtain citizenship status and own premises licence in this country.

He said the licence was the right of Malaysian nationals but the African students married the local women to gain the right.

Ahmad Zahid, who is also the Home Minister, said cooperation from the state government was necessary particularly with the local authorities to identify those who abused the licences.

He was commenting on the influx of African nationals and the proposal to tighten the conditions for entry of foreign students into the country.

He said it was unfair to accuse all African students in this country as criminals because only a handful of them were involved in criminal activities.

"There are a few who abuse the student visa to commit crime in the country. They enroll into the language centres in the country, but do not study...They turn their homes as laboratories to process drugs," he said at a media conference after officiating the 2016 Priority Declaration Programme 'Economy Is Our Priority', here Monday.

Ahmad Zahid said the Special Tactical Intelligence Narcotics Group (STING) and the Special Task Force On Organised Crime (STAFOC) had made a few arrests involving the African nationals.

On the proposed Regional Digital Counter-Messaging Communications Centre (RDC3), he said the equipment for the centre were being acquired.

"We have learnt about what had been done in Dubai and our senior officers who are involved are undergoing the training programme," he said.

The RDC3 aims to fight the spread of the IS militant group's ideology and propaganda via the Internet.

With regard to the foreign labour force, Ahmad Zahid said as of last October, RM38 billion had been sent out of the country by foreign workers.

He said the demand for the foreign labour force did not come from the government but from private employers, especially in the services, furniture and construction industries.

Ahmad Zahid said the country could not depend on the foreign workers to develop the national economy.

Meanwhile, he said the government also proposed to the employers to draw up a long-term programme to involve local workers in the 3D (dirty, dangerous and difficult) sector.