Malaysia will grant an amnesty with immediate effect to thousands of illegal immigrants, mainly Indonesians if they surrender voluntarily, according to a report today.

They would be allowed to return home without being punished, Chor Chee Heung, deputy Home Affairs minister was quoted as saying by the New Straits Times newspaper.

"They would be sent back to their country of origin as soon as possible," he told reporters at parliament.

Chor said the amnesty was introduced because under the new proposed amendments to the Immigration Act, illegal immigrants caught could be whipped.

"So we are giving them a chance to leave without being punished."

The stiff amendments are expected to be passed during the current sitting of parliament.

"This is because of the seriousness of the offence and the increasing number of illegal immigrants entering the country," he said.

Costly detentions

Malaysia granted a similar amnesty in 1998.

On March 10, Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said the government had no intention to hold illegal immigrants at detention centres for long periods because it was costly.

"If possible, we do not want too many detention centres. We want to deport them quickly," he said.

The daily also said the number of illegals caught rose to 156,420 last year from 100,103 in 2000. In 1999 it stood at only 78,051.

Malaysia is a home to 750,000 legal foreign workers and hundreds of thousands of mainly-Indonesian illegal immigrants.

The government, which has said it aims to deport about 10,000 Indonesian illegal immigrants every month, in January launched an offensive against the migrants, with almost daily arrests.

Riots

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 apologised for the riots and asked Malaysia to reconsider its decision, but to no avail.