Malaysia will crack down hard on Indonesian illegal immigrants from March 1, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said today after talks with the visiting Indonesian president.

The new deadline, which could see hundreds of thousands of illegal workers jailed, whipped or deported, will mark the end of an amnesty which has twice been extended at Indonesia's request.

Abdullah made the announcement at a joint news conference with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono after the two leaders held a private meeting followed by discussions with their ministerial delegations.

"The soft operation to advise illegals to return home will continue until the end of February. We hope by then, all illegals will return home," Abdullah said.

"Because from March 1 we will crack down on the illegals. We hope we will not have to carry out the tough operation."

The planned crackdown, which will involve more than half-a-million officials and civilian security force volunteers in a nationwide sweep, has been widely criticised by human rights groups which say it is open to abuse.

Abdullah said Malaysia would continue to employ Indonesians as long as they were in the country legally, and would introduce a new systen to fingerprint all foreign workers to ensure that illegals were weeded out.

Issue of unpaid workers

"I thank Malaysia for allowing Indonesian workers to work in Malaysia," Yudhoyono said. "This surely helps them to earn an income and also their contribution helps in the development of Malaysia.

"The problem now is how can we resolve their illegal problem? The Indonesian authorities will ensure those who exit Indonesia will come with valid travel documents," he said.

Yudhoyono also referred to complaints by some Indonesian workers that their Malaysian employers were refusing to pay their salaries before their forced departure from the country.

"We leave it to the Malaysian authorities to find a way to resolve the issue of unpaid Indonesian workers," he said, without mentioning a reported threat by Jakarta to sue the employers in the Malaysian courts.

"I am sure if the two issues can be resolved, we can resolve the illegal problem. We hope by March, these fundamental problems can be resolved."

Abdullah said that while the non-payment of salaries did not involve the government "we hope they will carry out their responsibility to pay their dues to the workers".

One million illegal workers

Before the amnesty began on Oct 29 last year, Malaysia estimated there were more than a million illegal workers in the country, mostly from Indonesia but also from the Philippines, Myanmar, Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka.

Nearly 400,000, mostly Indonesians, left without facing any penalty during the first three months of the amnesty. But others have remained, clinging to jobs in the construction, plantation and service industries in the face of unemployment at home.

Yudhoyono, who chose Malaysia to begin a traditional round of visits by new leaders to fellow members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), said the discussions were held "in good spirit".

The two leaders took no questions and did not mention any discussion of Indonesia's hunt for two Malaysians who are accused of playing leading roles in the Al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiah regional terror group.

Former university professor Azahari Husin and Noordin Mohammed Top are wanted for a series of attacks in Indonesia. Yudhoyono, who was sworn into office last October, has named arresting the pair as among his top priorities.