KL to deport 1,700 RI'S illegal immigrants

KL to deport 1,700 RI'S illegal immigrants

MALAYSIA: Kuala Lumpur plans to deport 1,700 illegal immigrants from Indonesia this week, the latest in a series of mass repatriation of foreign workers.

Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said the group would be sent back on Sunday aboard on two Indonesian navy ships, the Bernama national news agency reported.

Abdullah said that 11,325 illegal immigrants from Indonesia had been deported recently. Malaysia recently began a program of mass deportations to ease congestion in immigration detention camps.

Malaysia, one of Southeast Asia's wealthiest countries, is a magnet for immigrants from poor, neighboring Indonesia and the restive southern Philippines. An estimated 600,000 illegal workers are in Malaysia. --AP