Three warships have been dispatched to repatriate some 120,000 Indonesian illegal immigrants in Malaysia, said Indonesia's Manpower and Transmigration Minister Jacob Nuwa Wea.

According to national news agency Bernama , the minister said the special operation involving — KRI Teluk Lampung, KRI Teluk Kambai and KRI Teluk Ende — will last until Aug 10.

Two of the vessels would ferry back workers from Tawau, Sabah, to Makassar, the provincial capital of South Sulawesi.

While the other ship will take workers from Johor Bahru to the Belawan port of North Sumatra and Dumai, in Riau.

Malaysia has offered amnesty to illegal immigrants to leave the country by tomorrow, failing which they could face stiff penalties that include whipping, a fine or jail term under new provisions in the Immigration Act.

The Indonesian government estimated, prior to the recent exodus, that some 180,000 of its citizens are living illegally in Malaysia.

However, Malaysia claims that most of the estimated 600,000 illegal immigrants in the country are Indonesians.

Based on the republic's estimation, Jacob said the fate of the remaining 60,000 illegal workers is expected to be decided through intensive lobbying and bilateral cooperation with Malaysian authorities.

Severely punished

The minister added his government has called on its citizens who are working illegally in Malaysia to return home and at the same time appealed to its neighbour not to crackdown on those who have decided to return home.

On Tuesday, Malaysia granted a one-month extension for illegal immigrants who can prove they are leaving the country.

However, authorities warned that the extension should not be abused as those nabbed without proof of any effort to secure a ride home would be "severely punished".

Meanwhile, reports said some 30,000 workers arrived in Belawan and Dumai from Peninsular Malaysia and in Makassar and Pare-Pare, a town in South Sulawesi, from Sabah yesterday.

Chief of the South Sulawesi Manpower and Transmigration office in Makassar Sjahrir Tadjuddin said they arrived on commercial vessels at their own expense.

The North Sumatra administration has threatened to turn away illegal workers arriving in Belawan and the other North Sumatran port of Teluk Nibong in Tanjung Balai, if the central government fails to finance their trip home to Java Island and West Nusa Tenggara.

An official was reported as saying that the local administration only paid for the illegal workers from North Sumatra province and could not afford to support the rest.