Two magistrates' courts in the capital Monday sentenced 57 Indonesian illegal immigrants to be jailed for up to three months and 16 of them to be caned once, the Star said.

In northern Perak state, 14 Indonesians, two Indians, a Bangladeshi, a Thai and a Chinese national were sentenced to one stroke of the cane and jail terms ranging from three to six months, the paper said.

In Klang, in central Selangor state, 10 illegal immigrants -- eight Indonesians and two Indian nationals -- were sentenced to up to 12 months' imprisonment.

One of the Indonesians was ordered to receive two strokes of the cane while the others were to get one stroke each, the Star said.

Malaysia launched a nationwide blitz on March 1 to weed out hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants after the expiry of a four-month amnesty which had been extended twice at Jakarta's request.

Malaysia estimates there were nearly a million illegal workers in the country, mostly from Indonesia but also from the Philippines, Myanmar, Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka.

About 382,000, mostly Indonesians, took advantage of the amnesty to depart without penalty but an estimated 400,000 illegal immigrants remain.