More than 4,000 illegal immigrants have been arrested in the month since Malaysia launched a nationwide crackdown and dozens have already been sentenced to jail or whipping, according to figures available today.

The crackdown, which began on March 1, would continue as long as there were illegal foreigners in the country, Deputy Home Affairs Minister Tan Chai Ho told the official Bernama news agency after announcing the arrests figure.

Statistics on the numbers who have already appeared in court are incomplete, but local newspapers have reported dozens of cases in which migrants have been sentenced to up to six months in jail and one or two strokes of the cane.

Most of those sentenced have been Indonesians but Indians, Bangladeshis, Thais and Chinese have also been jailed and whipped , according to newspaper reports.

Malaysia launched the blitz against hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants after the expiry of a four-month amnesty during which they could leave without penalty.

Nearly 400,000 people, mostly Indonesians, took advantage of the amnesty but a similar number are believed to remain in the country.

Pakistani recruits

The departure of the illegal workers has caused a major labour shortage in Malaysia. The government has announced it will recruit 100,000 workers from Pakistan amid fears that the labour crunch would aggravate a slowdown in economic growth this year.

The first batch of Pakistani workers would arrive in the middle of next month, Tan said.

They will be allowed to work in all sectors including construction, plantation, manufacturing, restaurants and deep sea fishing, he said.

The government had proposed that the Indonesians who left voluntarily could return to work here legally once they have been processed in their own country, but has complained of delays in the system.

Some 200,000 workers are reportedly needed in the manufacturing sector, 150,000 in construction, 50,000 in plantations and 20,000 in the services sector.