FLUSHING OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS HAS NO IMPACT ON SABAH INDUSTRIES - CM

KOTA KINABALU (Malaysia), Aug 23 (Bernama) -- East Malaysia state of Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman said the large-scale flushing out of illegal immigrants did not adversely affect the business and farming industries in Sabah as employers were given three months to register them.

"We gave them (employers) the opportunity (to register the immigrants) so that work in the factories and plantations will not be disrupted," he told reporters after receiving Indonesian High Commissioner to Malaysia, General Pol(B) Prof Drs Da'i Bachtiar SH at his official residence here Friday.

On the ongoing employee registration exercise, Musa said it was going welland advised employers to take the opportunity to register the workers.

A recent news report had stated that even though the government was planning a large-scale operation to flush out illegal immigrants, a three-month period beginning August, was given to ensure that illegal workers and their families were registered to ensure the state's economic situation was notaffected.

Meanwhile, Da'i said the two leaders held discussions on ways to improverelations between the two countries through tourism.