The Indonesian government plans to sue Malaysian companies that have taken advantage of a continuing amnesty for illegal immigrants to withhold salaries of Indonesian citizens, a report said today.

Many Indonesian illegal immigrants in Malaysia could not take up the amnesty offer because they have not been paid by their employers, Manpower Minister Fahmi Idris was quoted as saying by the Jakarta Post .

The Indonesian embassy in Kuala Lumpur has hired five lawyers to take legal action against them, he said.

"We appreciate the Malaysian government's action to call on its companies employing illegal immigrants to send them back home and pay their salaries but it has not been effective," he said.

More than 90 Indonesians working on two construction projects in a Kuala Lumpur suburb have already hired a lawyer to sue their employers for refusing to pay them for months, the daily said.

Fahmi, who is expected to visit Kuala Lumpur later today, said he would press Home Affairs Minister Azmi Khalid to ensure that Malaysian firms found to have hired illegal workers were also penalised accordingly.

"I do not see the commitment being implemented," he told ElShinta radio. Jakarta may consider lawsuits against such companies, he said without elaborating.

Softer stand

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is also expected to raise the issue in talks with Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi when he visits Malaysia on Feb 14, officials said.

Malaysia last week extended indefinitely a conditional amnesty for illegal immigrants after Indonesia requested a delay in mass deportations in the aftermath of the tsunami disaster.

Many of the Indonesians working illegally in Malaysia are from Aceh province, the area worst hit by the December 26 tsunami which has left more than 294,000 people missing or dead around the Indian Ocean.

Nearly 400,000 illegal immigrants - mostly Indonesians - took the opportunity to leave without facing any penalty during the three-month amnesty which expired Jan 31, leaving at least the same number behind according to official estimates.

Kuala Lumpur has vowed to continue its crackdown on illegal immigrants but has softened its approach.

They would be fingerprinted and given a week to leave the country with the opportunity to return legally. Failing this they would face imprisonment or whipping and be barred from ever re-entering the country, officials said.