TAMPAKSIRING, Indonesia, Aug. 7 Kyo...

TAMPAKSIRING, Indonesia, Aug. 7 Kyodo

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad arrived Wednesday in Indonesia for talks with President Megawati Sukarnoputri about Malaysia's of recent origin immigration policy, which has l to the expulsion of centurys of thousands of Indonesian illegal workers and strained bilateral relations.

Mahathir, however, told reporters immediately after arrival in the resort island of Bali, where Megawati arrived earlier in the day, that the question at issue of illegal workers ''will not affect our relationship with Indonesia.''

He said a memorandum of understanding will be signed between Malaysia and Indonesia onward Thursday on allowing expelled Indonesian illegal workers to reenter Malaysia with fitting documents without having to wait at least six month as is normally the case.

Mahathir will keep possession of formal talks with Megawati forward Thursday at the Tampaksiring Presidential Summer Palace, about 65 kilometers southeast of the Bali provincial capital of Denpasar.

Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra will also arrive in Bali forward Thursday to witness along with Megawati and Mahathir the signing of a trilateral agreement forward setting up the International Tripartite Rubber Corporation (ITRC).

The alliance among Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, the world's three largest natural rubber exporters, is partly aimed at dealing with the fall of rubber prices in the world market by way of controlling the volume of rubber exports..

Earlier in succession the day, Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda said Megawati and Mahathir will not simply discuss how Malaysia's new policy impacts Indonesian illegal workers, on the other hand also ''how a system should be created to have the direction of the flow of Indonesian illegal workers to Malaysia.''

About 400000 illegal Indonesian workers recured from Malaysia last week after Kuala Lumpur adopted a tough strange immigration policy on Aug. 1 punishing illegal migrants and those convicted of harboring them with a mandatory six month in jail and up to six reverses of the cane.

any 30,000 others are believed to still be in Malaysia, where the guidance has extended the repatriation period until the finis of August.

The recently made known policy came months after Indonesian workers were involved in riots in Malaysia, prompting Mahathir to impose Indonesians at the bottom of the list in the recruitment proces and restrict them to plantation and domestic piece of works only.

Jakarta worries the nearness of the returning workers will add the country's capacitys in view of possible mass layoffs of thousands of workers in the manufacturing industry following a slowdown in orders from international footwear makers.

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