updated version

The government revealed the full extent of an increasingly aggressive crackdown on illegal immigration today, releasing figures showing arrests have rocketed and flagging even tougher action.

Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi told parliament 158,420 illegal immigrants were arrested last year - more than 37,000 up on apprehensions in 2000.

In just the first two months of this year 15,037 illegal immigrants had been arrested from Indonesia alone, he said, adding that heavier penalties were planned and border security was being stepped up.

In the eastern state of Sabah on Borneo island, it is Filipinos who have been the main target of a two-week blitz, which has also seen 7,067 squatter houses demolished.

Police said today more than 4,500 people had been arrested in Sabah, including 3,841 Filipinos and 697 Indonesians.

They are held in detention camps before being deported in an ongoing drive which aims to evict a total of some 30,000 illegal immigrants from Sabah alone.

Philippine ambasaddor Jose Brillantes visited Sabah at the start of the sweep and said consular officials would facilitate the repatriation of the Filipino illegals.

If they are caught trying to sneak back in they face a mandatory whipping under Malaysian law, a penalty now being considered for first offenders.

Tougher line

The action in Sabah is in line with a tougher approach throughout Malaysia, which is home to 750,000 legal foreign workers and hundreds of thousands of mainly-Indonesian illegal immigrants.

The government has said it aims to deport about 10,000 Indonesians every month.

While Malaysia says illegal migrants have contributed to a growth in crime and other social problems, the tough new line is also seen as a bid to protect jobs for locals in a time of economic hardship.

In parliament today, Abdullah said that only two percent of foreigners in the country were involved in crime.

He said, however, the government was gravely concerned about the discovery of dangerous weapons during the crackdown on illegal immigrant squatter settlements in Sabah.

Although police have said they would also weed out any armed militant groups found during the Sabah operation, Abdullah said the weapons were probably for use in crime.

Worst offenders

Indonesians were the worst offenders in serious crimes such as rape, murder and robbery, he said, with 1,051 arrested last year.

Malaysia's increasing intolerance of illegal immigrants was also turned against legal workers from Indonesia after two riots in January by textile and construction workers.

The government announced that Indonesians would be hired in future only as domestic helpers and plantation workers.

Indonesian government ministers, concerned over the loss of repatriated foreign earnings and an increase in unemployment at home, apologised for the riots and asked Malaysia to reconsider its decision, but to no avail.

Instead, fearing that the clamp on the legal hiring of workers would spark a new rush of illegal immigrants, Malaysia stepped up patrols in the Malacca Straits which separates the two countries.