'It is only a matter of time before police jail us ... we will be whipped, deported' The clock is relentlessly ticking away for Alagapillai Perumal, 27, from Chennai, India, who entered Malaysia on a two-week tourist visa in March, destroyed his passport and commenced work, illegally, as a cook. 'I am so afraid I can't sleep ... I fear the midnight knock on the door,' said Mr Perumal, who lives with 18 other Indian workers in a small room two floors above the restaurant in the Brickfields suburb of Kuala Lumpur. 'It is only a matter of time before police arrest and jail us ... we will be whipped and deported,' he said while making tosai, a favourite Indian breakfast made of ground rice. 'We can only pray we are not caught.' On Wednesday night, in a scene that will be played out time and again in coming months, 14 Nepali security guards working for small Malaysian companies were nabbed by police. Malaysia has started a crackdown on the army of illegal foreign labourers who do much of the donkey work. The country's population of 24 million includes 1.3 million registered foreign workers, according to the Ministry of Manpower and Human Resources. Various government estimates put the number of illegals at between 1.2 million and 2 million. Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's government ordered a crackdown on illegals at the start of this month and the country's security apparatus is just gearing up for a campaign that will last months. The government wants to deport all illegal workers but realistically it expects the final number to be half a million. The campaign against illegal workers is the third in six years. In 1998, 480,000 illegal workers were deported, and in 2002, 760,000 were deported. Previously, the government offered an amnesty and allowed foreign workers to leave unpunished, this time they are to be arrested and punished. Under new laws passed in 2002, illegal workers and their employers can face five years in jail, a hefty fine and whipping. With its large size, relatively low population and abundant resources, Malaysia has long relied on foreign workers to do the menial work that locals shun. The industrialisation policies of Mr Abdullah's predecessor, Mahathir Mohamad, sucked in labour from poorer neighbours to man factories. But with tough new competition from China's vast pool of cheap labour and Mr Abdullah's new emphasis on promoting farming and fishing industries for Malaysians, a decision was taken to clear out illegals. 'There are just too many foreign workers in the country ... it is simply too unhealthy for our society and we have to stop it,' Home Affairs Minister Azmi Khalid said. The current campaign also follows public hysteria that foreigners were 'freely roaming' the country and responsible for a sharp rise in violent crime and for tarnishing the country's image, though there are scant statistics to prove foreigners are to blame for rising crime. To implement the crackdown, plans have been drawn up to focus police resources on setting up raids and checkpoints along roads. And the national volunteer reserve army is being expanded by 60,000 to 260,000. Echoing the views of many and underlining the political aspect of the campaign, accountant Mark Liu, 36, said: 'They are everywhere, our society has become unsafe. 'I know of no country in the world that allows so many foreigners to walk in and work here illegally. This has got to stop.' A commentary in The Star on Monday caught the angry public mood against foreign workers. Under the heading 'Whip illegals and send them home', prominent columnist V.K. Chin wrote: 'It is better to just whip and send them home ... otherwise they will not learn their lesson.' A recent editorial in the equally influential Sin Chew Jit Poh said foreign workers aggravated the 'insecurity of a society that is already almost out of control'. 'We have to tolerate their robberies, murders and riots ... the list is endless,' the newspaper said. At the Indian restaurant in Brickfields, computer science graduate Arasapa Amirtham, 28, tells a tale typical for an illegal worker. He sold his family land and borrowed to pay labour agents M$8,600 (HK$17,670) to try to land a plumb job teaching computer science that paid $2,500 a month, a large sum in his native India. Instead he works as a waiter in the same restaurant earning M$350 a month. 'My agent disappeared with my passport and all the money I had,' he said. 'I must work here and earn back the money I borrowed.' Mr Perumal and Mr Amirtham can only hope the gathering storm misses them. Imported muscle Malaysian population: 24.4 million Foreign worker population: Legal: 1.32 million as of June 1 Illegal: Official estimates range from 1.2 million to 2 million, Foreigners make up over 20 per cent of workforce Average income by sector: Maid: M$400 (HK$820) a month ; Factory hand: Average of M$700 a month ; Construction labourer: M$35 a day ; Plantation worker: M$800 a month ; Catering: M$400 a month Restrictions or foreign workers: Male workers are barred from marrying local women No switching of jobs No formation of unions or collective bargaining No minium wages Overtime is often compulsory