Illegal migrants workers jailed in Malaysia

Illegal migrants workers jailed in Malaysia

Agence France-Presse, Kuala Lumpur

Dozens of people arrested this month in a crackdown on illegal
immigrants in Malaysia are to be jailed and whipped, local media
reported on Tuesday.

Two magistrates' courts in the capital on Monday sentenced 57
Indonesian illegal immigrants to be jailed for up to three months
and 16 of them to be whipped once, the Star said.

In northern Perak state, 14 Indonesians, two Indians, a
Bangladeshi, a Thai and a Chinese national were sentenced to one
stroke of the cane and jail terms ranging from three to six
months, the paper said.

In Klang, in central Selangor state, 10 illegal immigrants --
eight Indonesians and two Indian nationals -- were sentenced to
up to 12 months' imprisonment.

One of the Indonesians was ordered to receive two strokes of
the cane while the others were to get one stroke each, the Star
said.

Malaysia launched a nationwide blitz on March 1 to weed out
hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants after the expiry of a
four-month amnesty which had been extended twice at Jakarta's
request.

Malaysia estimates there were nearly a million illegal workers
in the country, mostly from Indonesia but also from the
Philippines, Myanmar, Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka.

About 382,000, mostly Indonesians, took advantage of the
amnesty to depart without penalty but an estimated 400,000
illegal immigrants remain.