KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 31: Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said Saturday Malaysia will temporarily halt the deportation of illegal Filipino workers to clear up claims they are being mistreated.

This follows an outcry in the Philippines about the alleged poor treatment of deportees which prompted President Gloria Arroyo to telephone Mahathir on Friday.

“President Arroyo rang me and asked me if there can be a short break in the sending of the migrant workers. I agreed...,” Mahathir told reporters.

The Philippines wanted to send a team to check the conditions at the detention centres where the illegal migrants are held before being deported, he said.

“They can come here. If they are satisfied that we are not ill treating them, then we will continue to sent them back. There is nothing disagreeable about our deportation plan,” he said.

Mahathir said Malaysia had treated the Filipinos well, adding that the reports of deaths were not true.

Social workers in the Philippines say three babies died during the mass deportation and many of those sent back suffered from dehydration and respiratory infections.

Mahathir did not say if there would be a similar halt in the deportation of illegal migrants from Indonesia and other countries.

Around 460 Filipinos Saturday became the latest illegal migrants to be deported from Malaysia as part of a massive crackdown.

The Filipinos boarded two naval vessels in Malaysia’s eastern Sabah state on Borneo island for the six-hour journey home, officials said. The process was orderly and Red Crescent and Red Cross workers were on hand to provide medical assistance for those who needed it, Philippines foreign ministry official Armando Comio said.—AFP