Ken (standing, fourth left) and Hamfatullah (left) have their photo taken with the agency’s ICC 2016 winning team. — Photo by Chimon Upon

KUCHING: The state Immigration Department has proposed to Putrajaya for an internal upgrading of its force to address the shortage of officers in Sarawak.

According to its state director Ken Leben, presently 1,429 Immigration personnel are based in the state, with some 500 officers attached to its enforcement unit.

“Whether we have enough manpower, it is a matter of perspective, but I have to admit that the state is in need of more personnel. In the meantime, to counter this shortage, we have proposed for the upgrading of the force to enable us to increase enforcement activities.

“At the same time, our non-enforcement unit personnel are authorised to be involved in daily operations of enforcing the law to strengthen our presence,” he told a press conference on the agency’s annual Innovative and Creative Convention (ICC), which took place earlier, at its headquarters in Bangunan Sultan Iskandar here yesterday, where his deputy Hamfatullah Syawal Hamdan and other senior officers were also present.

Ken was asked whether the state had sufficient number of Immigration officers.

Touching on the agency’s ICC, he said about 50 officers took part in its competition this year.

The winning project was submitted by a team from Kuching, for their invention of a device that made it convenient for babies and toddlers to have their pictures taken during the application for a travel document.

“ICC is one of the programmes organised by the agency to promote participation in developing innovative methods to improve the agency’s quality of service and time of delivery, as well as cost effectiveness of service.

“This year, the convention invited participation from all Immigration officers throughout the state. About 50 officers, divided into five groups, participated in the ICC competition this year. Of the five projects presented, the one submitted by the Kuching group was declared winner.”

Ken said the winning project would be submitted to Putrajaya for consideration to be implemented throughout the country.

Some 200 officers attended the one-day convention.