Malaysia pledged to investigate charges by President Gloria Arroyo that a 13-year-old Filipina girl was raped while awaiting deportation, as the Philippines ended a probe into detention camp conditions here today.

"Police have formed a team headed by a senior police officer to carry out investigations into the alleged rape and all other allegations of offences allegedly committed by policemen," Sabah state police chief Ramli Yusuff told reporters.

"We have started investigations of our own and we are making arangements for the girl to come over so that she can make a formal complaint and we can interview her as well."

Ramli said he viewed the allegations "very seriously as this involves an underaged girl and it is statutory rape even if the girl had consented."

Move welcomed

The move was welcomed by Nur Jaafar, the leader of a seven-man Philippine government delegation investigating allegations that migrants were being ill-treated at Malaysian deportation camps in Sabah state on Borneo island.

"Despite the fact that no official report was lodged by the girl, we are glad that the Sabah Chief Minister Chong Kah Kiat has ordered an immediate investigation into the allegations," he told a joint news conference with the Malaysian authorities.

Arroyo late yesterday sent a letter to Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad demanding swift prosecution of the alleged attacker, identified by local reports as a policeman assigned to a detention center in Kota Kinabalu.

The strongly-worded letter expressed Arroyo's "personal outrage and that of the Filipino people".

Since January, 27,000 Filipino illegal immigrants have been deported or have left voluntarily after a crackdown by Malaysia, Philippines ambassador Jose Brillantes told the same news conference, which was held at the airport ahead of the departure of the Philippine team.

Allegations of mistreatment

Many alleged they were mistreated in Malaysian detention centers, leading Manila to file a diplomatic protest and ask Mahathir for permission to send in its team of investigators.

Team leader Jafaar said in a joint statement with chief minister Chong that it found the Malaysian government "has exerted all efforts to ease the hardships of Filipino detainees/deportees.

"The Philippine delegation is satisfied that these efforts meet Philippine expectations," the statement said.

The delegation, however, proposed a number of improvements, including:

- Permission for Filipino social workers and medical personnel to visit the detention centres.

- Special attention for women, children and the elderly.

- Additional embarkation points to ease congestion at the holding centres.

For their part, the Malaysian authorities urged the Philippines to set up processing centres for returning Filipinos and send more embassy officials to Sabah to help in the documentation of illegal immigrants.

The statement concludes by saying the two countries will continue "to respond to each other's concerns in the mature and responsible manner and in the spirit of amity and cooperation that have always characterised their relationship."

Action to be taken

Jaafar told the news conference that "whatever has been discussed between me and Sabah authorities will be compiled and submitted to Arroyo who will be taking it up with Mahathir".

He said 536 illegal immigrants were being held at the three detention centres in Sabah and they would be shipped home as soon as possible, but added that there were an estimated 300,000 undocumented Filipinos still in Malaysia.

Police chief Ramli said police had "suspended operations to arrest illegals for a while", but did not elaborate.

Malaysia's crackdown on illegal immigrants, who flock to the relatively wealthy Southeast Asian nation in search of jobs, has also sparked protests in Indonesia.

Some 380,000 people, mainly from those two countries, fled Malaysia during a four-month amnesty ahead of the introduction last month of new punishments for illegal immigrants, including jail terms and caning.