Crackdown on illegal starts March

Crackdown on illegal starts March

Agencies, Kuala Lumpur

Malaysia will crack down hard on Indonesian illegal immigrants from March 1, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said on Monday after talks with visiting President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

The new deadline, which could see hundreds of thousands of illegal workers jailed, canned or deported, will mark the end of an amnesty which has twice been extended at Indonesia's request.

Abdullah made the announcement at a joint news conference with Susilo after the two leaders held a private meeting.

"The soft operation to advise illegals to return home will continue until the end of February. We hope by then, all illegals will return home," Abdullah said as quoted by AFP.

"Because from March 1 we will crack down on the illegals."

The deported workers would be blacklisted and not allowed to enter Malaysia ever again, even as tourists, Home Minister Azmi Khalid was quoted by AP as saying.

Susilo appeared to endorse the Malaysian stand, saying "we want to resolve any problem we have in good spirits, especially of Indonesians working illegally in Malaysia."

The comments signaled an easing of tensions between the two countries over the issue of illegal migrant workers. Since Malaysia announced an amnesty in October for the 1 million illegal migrant workers in the country -- most of them Indonesians -- about 400,000 have left but another 500,000 have remained.

The Indonesian government has said they are awaiting back wages from unscrupulous employers who are refusing to pay several months' salaries.

Abdullah said the wage dispute does not involve the Malaysian government, but it is willing to coax employers to be fair.

Besides the illegal workers, some 1.47 million Indonesians are in Malaysia with legal work permits. Indonesian workers form the backbone of Malaysia's work force in menial jobs that Malaysians refuse to do -- on construction sites and plantations, in restaurants and other low-paying sectors.

Last week the government of Indonesia accused Malaysia of turning a blind eye to the unethical employers.

The problem had threatened to blow up into a major diplomatic spat after the government of Indonesia said it had hired lawyers to sue the Malaysian employers. Indonesian Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Fahmi Idris even urged Malaysia to cane such employers, triggering an uproar among Malaysian officials who argued they didn't need to be lectured on how to deal with their errant citizens.

On Monday, Fahmi said any legal action against the employers will be taken by the workers and not the government. The lawyers were hired by the government only to facilitate the workers, he told AP.

"We agreed to settle the problem of Indonesian migrant workers, relating to their illegal status or their unpaid wages on a cooperative basis," said Fahmi, part of Susilo's entourage.

"The government of Malaysia is trying to encourage the employers to pay up quickly. So Indonesia is leaving this fully to the Malaysian government. We feel what the government of Malaysia is willing to do is quite enough," he said.

Susilo, who chose Malaysia to begin a traditional round of visits by new leaders to fellow members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), said the discussions were held "in good spirit".

Clearing up the bad blood was crucial for Malaysian companies hoping to participate in the lucrative reconstruction of Aceh following the Dec. 26 earthquake and tsunami. Malaysian architects and town planners are drawing up a master plan to rebuild Banda Aceh, the capital of Aceh province.

Susilo welcomed Malaysia's help in rebuilding Banda Aceh, and said the master plan would be ready by the end of march.

"We will submit it to Malaysia to identify the exact form of cooperation for the reconstruction of Aceh," he was quoted by AFP as saying, without elaborating.

Susilo is scheduled to visit Singapore on Tuesday and Wednesday.