The government has announced an extension of two weeks for some illegal immigrants to return home after the end of an amnesty protecting them from harsh new punishments including whipping, a government official said Friday.

A Home Affairs ministry spokesman told AFP the extension would only apply to workers who had applied to return home during the amnesty, which runs from March 21 to July 31, but were unable to secure seats on aircraft or ferries.

The grace period did not mean the government was extending the amnesty, he said.

Deputy Home Minister Zainal Abidin Zin said Wednesday that illegal workers caught without home-bound travel documents after the amnesty period would be punished under harsh new immigration laws, which will come into effect on August 1.

Under the laws, illegal workers and their employers face a mandatory six months in jail and possibly up to six strokes of the cane.

Currently, offenders face up to five years' jail or a fine of not more than RM10,000 ringgit, but courts mostly impose fines.

Zainal said those who had been unable to find transport home would be allowed to stay "but only up to two weeks.

"The government cannot continue giving grace periods (because) if that is the case, they will never go home," he was quoted as saying by the New Straits Times newspaper.

More than 200,000 out of an estimated 600,000 illegal immigrants have already returned home in response to the voluntary repatriation program, he said. AFP