Not long ago, before the crackdown on undocumented workers began, I wrote a letter on the subject of re-registering undocumented migrant workers in Malaysia.

In that letter, I asked for the reason as to why the Malaysian authorities were not allowing undocumented or 'illegal' workers to re-register or legalise themselves here in Malaysia instead of travelling back to their home countries and then returning.

I don't believe that I have seen a response to this question yet from the authorities and I hope that I will get one soon. In my letter, I cited, as did so many other Malaysians, the fact that there would be an acute labour shortage in Malaysia if so many were sent back so quickly while a freeze on intake is in force at the same time.

Already, the price of some vegetables have gone up by some 50 percent due to a scarcity of labour and I also understand that the palm oil industry is facing a severe shortage of labour that could result in losses amounting to millions of ringgit.

The option of legalising undocumented workers is still available. The number of arrests during the current crackdown has seen the arrest of a large number of migrants and refugees, many of them women.

Most of them economic migrants, some political. These people should be given the opportunity to re-register and legalise themselves here and get back into the workforce and revive it.

There are reports about new sources of labour opening up to compensate for the delay in the Indonesians returning. That will take time, and unless the reasons as to how so many migrants became 'illegal' the last time is addressed, the whole cycle is set to repeat itself.

In addition, with over 20,000 political refugees from Burma and Aceh in Malaysia today who have not been given permission to work legally, we should explore the possibility of absorbing them into the workforce as soon as possible.

Many have been here for up to 10 years, exploited and abused due to their status which prevents them from being employed. I really hope that the Malaysian authorities will look into all these possibilities and opportunities that are available to them before deciding to bring in another large influx of migrant workers.