Jakarta – The government admitted Wednesday that hundreds of thousands of Indonesians still work illegally in the more affluent neighboring country of Malaysia, despite campaigns to stop illicit labor exports.

Harry Heriawan, secretary-general of the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry, said 1.2 of the estimated 1.7 million Indonesians working in Malaysia were there illegally.

Indonesian officials discussed the labor issue with the visiting Malaysian deputy labor minister, Dato' Abdul Rahman Bakar, on Tuesday night in Jakarta.

The government plans to establish a national agency in charge of the placement and protection of migrant workers overseas.

The agency will create procedures for training and sending workers abroad. At present, Indonesia has 246 training centers.