JAKARTA - Indonesia on Monday set up a ministerial task force to assist hundreds of thousands of illegal workers who have left neighbouring Malaysia to avoid jail terms and caning under tougher new immigration laws.

"It was decided to form a task force on the problems of the workers from Malaysia, who number around 500,000, and today it immediately began work," top welfare minister Jusuf Kalla told reporters after a cabinet meeting on the issue.

Kalla said its main task would be to establish "how in the shortest possible time...they can legally return to Malaysia."

The task force is composed of Kalla, Justice and Human Rights Minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra, Transportation Minister Agum Gumelar, Social Affairs Minister Bachtiar Chamsyah and National Police Chief General Da'i Bachtiar.

"We will facilitate so that they can immediately return to Malaysia," Kalla said.

The team, he said, would coordinate the issue of passports and other documents needed for their speedy return.

Kalla said President Megawati Sukarnoputri was expected to sign a new agreement on the repatriation of migrant workers with visiting Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad when they meet in Bali on Wednesday and Thursday.

More than a MoU

Kalla said Mahathir would talk to Megawati about "how to formulate a more just memorandum of understanding."

The new agreement, he said, was expected to allow the legal return of the workers to Malaysia, adding that their sudden departure also hurt that country.

Indonesian expatriates - both legal and illegal - work in construction, on palmoil plantations and in other manual jobs which are shunned by many Malaysians.

Thousands of Indonesian workers have flooded several ports across Indonesia following Malaysia's June 31 midnight deadline, after which illegal workers could face jail and whipping.

Malaysian immigration officials, giving different figures to Kalla, said Sunday that some 322,180 illegal immigrants had left the country under a four-month amnesty which began March 22. — AFP