The government today gave notice that it planned a major new crackdown on illegal immigrants which could see more than a million people detained and deported.

Home Minister Azmi Khalid said there were an estimated 1.2 million illegal workers in the country and some 400,000 members of the People's Volunteer Corps (Rela) would be deployed to help round them up, the official Bernama news agency reported.

The corps is an organisation of uniformed part-timers who have some policing powers.

The authorities were also working on the logistics of where to house the illegal immigrants after their arrest and the number of ships required to send them home, he said.

"We are serious. There are 1.2 million legal workers and an estimated 1.2 million illegal workers, or maybe more, in the country," Azmi said.

Most of the foreign workers are from neighbouring Indonesia and the Philippines, drawn to relatively prosperous Malaysia by jobs in construction, plantation work and services.

Harsh laws

Malaysia introduced harsh new immigration laws in August 2002, preceeded by a crackdown on illegal immigrants which saw nearly half a million people repatriated during a four-month amnesty period.

However, this caused a severe labour shortage in the construction and plantation sectors, and the government later had to fast-track approvals for recruiting foreign workers for certain industries.

Azmi said the government was bent on eliminating all foreigners working illegally in Malaysia and warned employers that the authorities would not sympathise with those who hire illegals.

"We are warning you in advance. Later, do not say that your business is affected becasue we've detained the illegal workers," he said.

The government aims to carry out the deportations before a new identity card system is fully implemented, Azmi said.

The chip-based 'MyKad', which carries a wide range of information about the bearer, has already been issued to millions of Malaysian and the government hopes to complete the process next year.