Malaysia to resume migrant workers' deportation

Malaysia to resume migrant workers' deportation

Malaysia will resume a planned massive deportation of some 700,000 illegal Indonesian immigrants after the move was deferred due to Indonesia's presidential elections, reports said on Wednesday.

The decision to temporarily put on hold the mass repatriation was made in response to a request by Jakarta last month, but now that Indonesia's elections have ended, the Malaysian government would resume the deportations, said Deputy Home Minister Tan Chai Ho.

"We can start anytime ... our agencies are ready, not only deportation of those in our custody but also hauling up illegal immigrants," he was quoted as saying by the official Bernama news agency.

However, Tan declined to reveal the exact date when the operations would resume.

The government had originally decided to delay the deportations till January next year.

Tan said there was an estimated 1.2 million illegal workers in the country, with around 700,000 of them believed to be Indonesians.

A total of 111,893 illegal immigrants were arrested last year -- 56 percent of whom were Indonesians -- while for the first eight months this year, 67,756 were detained, he said.

Under tough laws introduced two years ago, illegal migrants face fines of up to 10,000 ringgit (US$2,630 dollars) per offense, a jail sentence of up to five years, or both, with whipping. -- DPA