Gov't starts amnesty for illegal immigrants

KUALA LUMPUR, (AP):

Malaysia began registering up to two million illegal immigrant workers yesterday in an amnesty program aimed at managing waves of foreigners seeking menial jobs unwanted by Malaysians.

The program should make it easier to fill labor shortages for low-paying jobs at palm oil plantations, factories, construction sites and restaurants.

It also means foreigners like Bangladeshi Jueil Bepari, who for three years has done odd jobs including working as a gas station attendant, will no longer have to dodge Malaysian authorities for fear of being jailed, whipped with a cane or deported.

"I am always in fear of being caught. I dare not go to the shops or visit my friends," 23-year-old Bepari said after registering and receiving a six-month pass to stay in the country while applying for a work permit.

The government hopes that by absorbing illegal labourers like Bepari into the mainstream work force, it can allow outsiders to take up the many menial jobs shunned by locals. It also plans to build an immigrant database, including fingerprints, to improve security.

Malaysia has some four million foreign workers, only half of whom are in the Southeast Asian country legally.