Clashes between rival RI migrant gangs erupt for second time in

Clashes between rival RI migrant gangs erupt for second time in three days

Associated Press, Kuala Lumpur

Thirteen Indonesians were arrested and several others injured when rival Indonesian immigrant gangs fought with long-bladed knives near Kuala Lumpur, news reports said on Tuesday.

The clashes, which took place late on Monday night, were the second within three days among gangs in the Gombak district of Kuala Lumpur, where thousands of poor Indonesian immigrant construction workers live.

Monday's fighting flared after a man armed with a traditional long-bladed knife called a parang slashed a member of a rival gang during an argument, the national news agency Bernama reported.

Co-workers of the two men joined in the fighting and attacked each other with sharp weapons, Bernama cited Abu Bakar Johor, a senior police official, as saying.

More than 100 policemen were deployed to break up the fighting. Abu Bakar said several of the workers were injured, at least two of them seriously.

On Saturday, scores of Indonesian workers fought in the same district. One man was killed and several houses torched in the fray, which was apparently caused by a dispute over a woman.

It was not immediately known if Monday's and Saturday's clashes involved members of the same gangs.

Migrant workers from neighboring Indonesia have long been the backbone of the construction sector in Malaysia, one of Asia's richest nations and a magnet for immigrants from the region's poorer and less stable areas.