Gov't warns crackdown on migrants to go ahead
The government prepared today to open its controversial deportation camps to inspectors from the Philippines but warned that a crackdown on illegal immigrants would continue.
Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, faced with the burning of the Malaysian flag by protestors in both Manila and the Indonesian capital Jakarta, granted a request by Philippine President Gloria Arroyo for the inspection of camps in Sabah.
The state's chief minister Chong Kah Kiat, however, told the official Bernama news agency today that while the repatriation excercise was temporarily suspended the operation to arrest illegal immigrants would continue.
Public sentiment in the Philippines and Indonesia has been inflamed both by reports of deaths during the mass expulsions which have seen more than 300,000 illegal immigrants leave Malaysia, and by the "insulting" legal whipping of those who failed to flee.
Malaysia has denied ill-treatment of the migrants and defended the mass deportations.
"Basically the request from the Philippine president is for Malaysia to halt the deportation process of Filipino nationals to give them the opportunity to see how the immigrants were treated while in detention," said Chong.
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