Failure of E-Card blamed on stubborn employers

Immigration director-general Datuk Seri Mustafar Ali said only 23 per cent or 161,056 illegal foreign workers had been registered until 10pm, which is two hours from the final registration deadline at 12pm tonight.

He said it involved 28,375 employers with 145,571 E-Cards issued, much lower than the original target of 600,000 illegal workers.

"Is the programme a failure? Is that the only number of illegals out there ... we think the programme was not successful because of the employers' stubbornness to register.

"We have given ample time since Feb 15, even announcements were made in the media to enable employers to do the appropriate thing but it did not have the expected response," he told reporters after inspecting the registration operation before the deadline ended at the Immigration headquarters here today.

In this regard, Mustafar reminded employers and illegal workers not to blame the Immigration and Home Ministry if action is taken against them for failing to make use of the opportunity given to them.