Acehnese want to go home: Official

Acehnese want to go home: Official

KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 120 out of 232 Acehnese asylum
seekers detained by Malaysian authorities have agreed to go home,
a senior immigration official said on Friday.

Ishak Mohamed, immigration director in northern Perak state,
said investigations showed that the 120 migrants were not
involved with the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM).

Their relatives living in Malaysia have agreed to pay for
their travel home, he said.

"They will be sent back (to Aceh) once all the travel
documents are ready," he was quoted as saying by Bernama news
agency.

The 232 Acehnese, including women and children, were detained
on Tuesday as they tried to seek asylum outside the United
Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) office in Kuala
Lumpur.

They are currently being held in the Langkap detention center
in Perak, which is opposite Aceh across the narrow Malacca
Strait. Ishak said the remaining 112 migrants were still being
investigated.

"We hope to finish (investigations) within the next few days.
Several officers from Perak immigration headquarters are in
Langkap to handle this," he said. -- AFP