Crackdown on migrants provokes backlash
The government was on the defensive Tuesday as its crackdown on illegal immigrants provoked anger in Indonesia, suffering in the Philippines and economic problems at home.
Officials scrambled to control the damage after Indonesian protestors burnt the Malaysian flag and reports from the Philippines said at least eight babies had died while awaiting deportation or during their perilous sea-journey home.
Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar accused some Indonesian politicians and the media of fuelling anti-Malaysian sentiment and warned citizens to avoid visiting the neighbouring country "until the situation cools down".
More than 300,000 people, mostly Indonesians and Filipinos, fled Malaysia ahead of the introduction on Aug 1 of harsh new punishments for illegal immigrants, including a mandatory six months in jail and up to six strokes of the cane.
Almost every day since then courts have sentenced groups of those who remained behind to be whipped, outraging Indonesia's national assembly chairman Amien Rais, who called the punishment "inhumane" and "insulting".
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