Malaysia's new government is ending a program that allowed foreign migrant workers without valid documents to be rehired. It's part of an effort to reduce the country's heavy reliance on foreign labor. And once the program ends on Saturday, the government says it will target the two or three million illegal foreigners believed to be in the country. Rian Maelzer reports from Kuala Lumpur.

Immigration raids, like this one, will be ramped up sharply next week. There are about 1.7 million foreigners working legally in Malaysia, in sectors such as plantations, construction, manufacturing and services. The number of those working illegally could be double that. For more than two years, the government had allowed employers to legitimize and rehire foreign workers whose permits had expired or were invalid. Nearly three-quarters of a million workers looked to avail of the amnesty, but around 100,000 of them were found to be ineligible and now face deportation.

RIAN MAELZER KUALA LUMPUR "The new government is ending that rehiring program on June 30 as part of its efforts to reduce the country's reliance on foreign labor legal or otherwise. Malaysia's employers say they support the move, but with a caveat."

SHAMSUDDIN BARDAN EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, MALAYSIAN EMPLOYERS' FEDERATION "The first thing that we need to do is to try to mechanize and automate, but of course obviously these are big capital outlay required and we need to have a lot of incentive by the government to actually assist employers to mechanize and automate."

The new government says it is suspending all agreements to recruit foreign workers, amid allegations of corrupt practices and human trafficking. However, migrant rights' advocates aren't convinced and say they are deeply concerned about their futures.

KHADIJAH SHAMUSUL PROGRAM MANAGER, MIGRANT"The laws and enforcement with regards to trafficking or with regards to unscrupulous employers are so weak in Malaysia that these foreign workers don't have much alternative or avenue to go out and seek help. What you are then doing is then further victimizing these people and making sure that these people will never leave the vicious cycle that they are already in."

While there's plenty of public support for slashing the number of foreign laborers. Malaysians are unwilling to work in the very sectors they service. And employers say any measures to reduce the country's reliance on foreign labor needs to be done over years, not months no matter how impatient the new government and the public are for change. Rian Maelzer, CGTN, Kuala Lumpur.