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