(AFP) Fifteen Indonesian workers were jailed for six months today over a riot at a textile factory which led the government to change its foreign labour policy.

They pleaded guilty to a charge of taking part in an unlawful assembly at the Hualon Corporation (M) Sdn Bhd textile factory hostel on Jan 17.

The riot, over drug tests, was followed three days later by a rampage by some 70 Indonesian construction workers armed with machetes against food stalls run by fellow Indonesians at Cyberjaya.

Following this, the government announced a temporary ban on the hiring of new Indonesian workers and said it would reduce the number of those already in the country - a move which will worsen Indonesia's acute unemployment crisis.

Indonesian ministers have apologised for the riots and Vice President Hamzah Haz said Tuesday he was ready to go to Malaysia if necessary to ease tensions.

Last choice

Home Affairs ministry secretary-general Aseh Che Mat said yesterday Indonesians would be the last choice in the intake of foreign labour so that their number would be reduced.

He said Indonesians make up 566,983 out of a total of 769,566 legal foreign workers in the country.

Apart from Indonesia, foreign workers have been traditionally recruited from Cambodia, Burma, Nepal, the Philippines and Thailand, while Laos and Vietnam are the latest sources.