Malaysia to crack down on illegal immigrants

KUALA LUMPUR, July 15 (Reuters) Malaysia will launch a major operation soon to rid the country of the estimated 500,000 illegal immigrants, state-run Bernama news agency said.

Home Affairs Minister Radzi Sheikh Ahmad said yesterday that some of the illegals would be repatriated straight away but most would be held in detention centres before being sent back.

''The police, immigration officers and more than 100,000 members of People's Volunteer Corps will be involved in the exercise,'' Radzi was quoted as saying.

The government had made the necessary preparations including setting up new detention centres, he said.

Radzi said most of the immigrants were working illegally in the construction and plantation sectors, and an increasing number of them had committed crimes.

Malaysia has repatriated 400,000 illegal immigrants, mostly Indonesians, since early 2005 but an estimated 500,000 remain.

Some 1.8 million foreigners are currently working legally in various sectors in Malaysia.

Malaysia relies on foreign unskilled labour to do dirty, poorly paid work that locals shun, but the number of illegal immigrants causes a fiscal and administrative headache.

REUTERS SRS BD0440