Kuala Lumpur, Tues - Member of Parliament for Gaya, Datuk Yong Teck Lee welcomed the statement by the director of internal security and public order that the authorities will go after the culprits involved in the Sipadan kidnapping.

Yong said: "For these culprits to be collaborating with foreign criminal elements to kidnap Malaysians and tourists from our country is tantamount to treason and ought to be dealt with as harshly as the perpetrators of the Grik arms heist."

He urged the authorities to take immediate and large-scale actions against illegal immigrants who continue to be threat to national security.

Prime target groups should include the syabu and drug smugglers, identity card syndicates, leaders of illegal squatters and local collaborators, he said.

"If need be, the resources of the armed forces should be mobilized to tackle this 'mother of all threats'," he said.

On the presence of the large number of legal foreign workers, Yong said the government had to step up its administrative capability in order to make it easier for employers as well as foreign workers to comply with the law and make it dangerous for the same employers and foreign workers to flout the law.

He added: "Henceforth, all legal foreign workers also need to be more closely regulated and monitored.

"Malaysians throughout the country expect that it is the basic duty of the government to defend the sovereignty of the country and security of the the people.

"People expect to see results and actions by the authorities and in return the people should give fullest co-operation to the authorities."