ABRI says 14 rebels among deported workers

JAKARTA (JP): The Armed Forces (ABRI) claim it has so far discovered 14 Acehnese separatists among thousands of Indonesian workers recently deported by Malaysian authorities.

ABRI chief spokesman Brig. Gen. Abdul Wahab Mokodongan said here Thursday that military and police officers in Lhokseumauwe, Aceh, had yet to determine the identify of many of the deported workers and that thousands more were expected imminently.

"So, the number of Aceh separatists among them is expected to increase," he said.

Approximately 5,500 Indonesian migrants were recently deported by Malaysian authorities after an operation to round up illegal workers.

Among those deported were hundreds of Acehnese involved in a bloody riot with Malaysian police in detention camps in Semenyih, near the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur. The riot left eight Indonesians and one Malaysian policeman dead.

The violence broke out when Malaysian police began to transfer the illegal immigrants from detention camps to a nearby port for transfer to Indonesia.

Mokodongan said the circumstances of the 14 separatists were being thoroughly investigated.

The 14 would be given a short lecture and forced to attend a course on Indonesian development before being sent back to their home villages, provided their villages were ready to accept them, Mokodongan said.

Asked about the Acehnese migrants seeking asylum at the UNHCR office in Kuala Lumpur, Mokodongan said that they were acting within their rights, despite being Indonesian citizens. ABRI would therefore not interfere in the situation.

"The case is being handled by the UNHCR and Malaysian authorities," he said, adding that ABRI would treat the asylum seekers as suspected separatists should they decided to return home. (rms)