Navy to bring home illegal workers

BANDA ACEH, Aceh: An Indonesian naval ship will fetch 512 Acehnese being held in Malaysian detention centers since last month for being in the country illegally, Antara reported yesterday.

"The 512 Indonesians are part of the foreign workforce laid off by their employers in Malaysia," Governor Syamsuddin Mahmud said here yesterday.

The financial crisis in Malaysia has also caused foreign laborers from Bangladesh and India to lose their jobs.

Most of the Indonesian illegal workers in Malaysian are those who overstayed and have been arrested since October 1997.

Last year Malaysia apprehended about 3,000 illegal Indonesian workers, with 512 of them coming from Aceh.

Syamsuddin promised to include the deported workers in labor intensive projects at home.