Indonesia today urged Malaysia to ensure there are no human rights abuses when it begins a massive operation next week to arrest and deport hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants.

Visiting Indonesian Manpower Minister Fahmi Idris said Jakarta accepted Malaysia's Monday deadline to end an amnesty for illegal immigrants, mostly Indonesians, to return home without penalty.

But Malaysia must ensure it follows humanitarian principles and be sensitive to human rights in carrying out the crackdown, he was quoted as saying by Bernama news agency after meeting Home AFfairs Minister Azmi Khalid.

A high-level delegation from the Philippines was to make a similar request on behalf of Filipino illegals during a visit to Kuala Lumpur last week.

Idris said Jakarta was also concerned about the caning of their citizens for working illegally in the country and wanted the same punishment to be imposed on their Malaysian employers.

End of amnesty

Malaysia announced earlier this month it will round up, whip and deport mainly Indonesian illegal immigrants from March 1 at the end of an amnesty which has twice been extended at Indonesia's request.

The planned crackdown, which will involve more than half-a-million officials and civilian security force volunteers in a nationwide sweep, has been widely criticised by human rights groups which say it is open to abuse.

Azmi assured Idris that the government would ensure that the welfare of the immigrants were taken care of.

"The very reason we are sending them back is because we want them to come back legally. This is very, very humanitarian," he said.

"We just want to legalise you because if you are illegal, you are being exploited. So what more humanitarian approach can anybody think of?"

Before the amnesty, which began on Oct 29, Malaysia estimated there were more than a million illegal workers in the country, mostly from Indonesia but also from the Philippines, Burma, Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka.