More immigration officers will be recruited and deployed in Sabah to prepare for a possible influx of illegal immigrants from the troubled southern Philippines, said Home Affairs Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi today.

"Illegal immigrants coming into Sabah is still a big problem, especially after the recent incidents in southern Philippines," the minister told a press conference after opening a function in conjunction with national-level Immigration Day 2001 in Kuala Lumpur.

However, Abdullah, who is also the deputy prime minister, noted that the immigration problems have long existed even before the outbreak of unrest in the Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao.

Fugitive

Late last month, the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) led by Nur Misuari attacked several military outposts just days before the territory's election of a governor, a post Misuari then held.

He fled to off-coast Sabah and was subsequently arrested by the police for illegal entry. Many fear that the ongoing fighting between the MNLF and the Philippines government may escalate.

Yesterday, the Defence Ministry placed the Malaysian armed forces on alert and beefed up security patrols in Sabah. It was reported that combat vessels, navy commandos and paramilitary troops have been despatched to Sabah while reservists are put on standby.

Abdullah today said the ministry will ask for the Civil Service Department to recruit more trainees for the purpose, adding that the exact number of recruits will be decided by the latter.

The plan will be implemented "as soon as possible" as the government wanted to avoid transferring immigration officers from the peninsula to Sabah which may create a shortage of manpower in its daily operations, he added.

Currently, the Sabah Immigration Department has 350 officers, of whom 46 are in the enforcement division.

Deportation

On a separate matter, Abdullah also announced that the government will deport 1,700 Indonesian illegal immigrants on Dec 9.

He said the operation is done in collaboration with the Indonesian government who will provide two navy ships for the purpose.

"We will do this from time to time to ease congestion in depots and cut down on our costs to support the illegal immigrants while in detention," he said.

He said this operation would be the ninth and some 11,000 Indonesians had been deported with the help of their government.

Immigration Department figures show that as of Nov 30, about 135,000 Indonesian illegal immigrants had been sent back to their country this year and some 9,000 of them are in detention camps.