Wed February 2, 2005 11:12 AM GMT+05:30

By Clarence Fernandez

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia has given illegal immigrants one last chance to leave without punishment, an immigration official said on Wednesday, after an appeal from poorer neighbour Indonesia, the home of most of the immigrants.

Malaysia wants to send home up to a million illegal immigrants, mostly Indonesians working in poorly paid jobs, despite fears many businesses might be crippled by the withdrawal of cheap labour.

The crackdown would go ahead but each illegal immigrant caught in a national swoop would get a final chance to quit the country, said Ishak Mohamed, director of enforcement in the immigration department, who leads operations against illegal immigrants.

"The operation is in a 'soft' phase right now," he told Reuters. "The approach will be different. Rather than arrest the illegal immigrants, we will advise them to return to their countries of origin and apply for documents from there."

Immigration authorities checked 1,497 workers in their first soft operation on Tuesday night, Ishak added, and found that about seven percent had no valid documents at all.

Facing the threat of jail, fines and, for men under 50, a whipping, nearly 400,000 illegal immigrants left Malaysia under an amnesty during the last three months, Ishak said.

It was difficult to say how many still remain, but he offered a rough estimate of between 200,000 and 600,000.

"Currently the whole situation is being affected by the tsunami," Ishak added. "We don't want to be too tough on people from the affected countries, but at the same time we are not going to stop the operation entirely."

Indonesia, just a short boat-ride away, is concerned that a harsh crackdown could spur an exodus of people back to its shores, where one of the world's biggest relief operations is still under way after the devastating Dec. 26 tsunami.

Indonesia fears around 230,000 of its people died in the killer waves, which tore through the northern province of Aceh. Its diplomats have complained they are still too busy with the disaster to deal with a sudden influx of deportees from Malaysia.

RIGHTS GROUP SEEKS PERMANENT HALT

A human rights group based in Hong Kong called for a permanent halt to the crackdown, saying it was unfairly inconsiderate to workers.

"The Asian Human Rights Commission ... urges the Government of Malaysia to address the deeper issues affecting migrant workers and asylum seekers," the group said in a statement.

It called on Malaysia to discuss with other governments ways of handling the issue, urging the United Nations and officials of the Commonwealth grouping of mostly former British colonies to mediate in such talks.

Malaysia's cabinet is to discuss on Wednesday a request from Indonesia's president for an extension of a three-month amnesty on prosecution for illegal immigrants who left voluntarily.

The amnesty was extended to Jan. 31 from Dec. 31 because of the tsunami.

Malaysian authorities had threatened to send more than 500,000 officials on raids to building sites, plantations, factories, restaurants and homes with domestic servants -- anywhere where illegal labour is likely to be found.

But the crackdown did not materialise on Tuesday, the day after the amnesty ended.

Immigration officials said they would not further step up action against illegal workers until February 7, when Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak is scheduled to visit Aceh.

Malaysia has a shortage of skilled and unskilled workers, drawing in illegal immigrants from poorer Asian countries. But they are often blamed for crime, the growth of shanty settlements and for money being repatriated rather than spent in Malaysia.

The Philippines has also asked Malaysia to extend the amnesty by a month to allow an estimated 170,000 undocumented Filipinos to return home. Manila plans to send navy vessels to Malaysia's eastern state of Sabah to bring back some of the illegal workers.

The Philippines has also reconvened a multi-agency task force to ensure the "orderly repatriation" of the Filipinos.

Link: http://www.reuters.co.in/locales/c_newsArticle.jsp;:42006ad5:e253d3aa577646?type=worldNews&localeKey=en_IN&storyID=7507120

February 2, 2005