Indonesia regrets rioting at immigrant detention camps

Indonesia regrets rioting at immigrant detention camps

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia expressed regret yesterday over the
death of at least nine people, including eight Indonesian illegal
immigrants, at a riot in a Malaysian detention camp, but did not
blame the Malaysian government and pledged continued cooperation
with them.

Foreign Minister Ali Alatas said Indonesia was concerned and
expressed condolences to the families of all those killed.

"We shall continue to cooperate closely with Malaysia... We
won't burden Malaysia in this case," Alatas told journalists
after meeting with President Soeharto at his residence on Jl.
Cendana, Central Jakarta.

Violent riots occurred at four detention camps -- Semenyih
camp in Selangor, Machap Umbo camp in Malacca, Juru camp in
Penang, and Lenggeng camp in Negeri Sembilan -- when police
launched simultaneous operations to deport over 500 illegal
immigrants from the Indonesian province of Aceh.

Nine people lost their lives during the incidents, including
one Malaysian policeman.

Alatas was quick to point out that those who were being
deported are illegal migrants who had been in detention for a
long time.

Reports from Malaysia say most of them were supporters of an
Acehnese separatist movement.

According to Alatas, 545 of them left the Malaysian port of
Lumut on Thursday aboard an Indonesian naval ship bound for Aceh.

Alatas emphasized that their repatriation had been planned for
a long time.

He repeatedly underlined Indonesia's continued willingness to
cooperate with the Malaysian government on the issue of illegal
immigrants.

Aftermath

In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad
pledged yesterday to continue deporting illegal immigrants
despite the incident.

"They attacked first and caused the death of a policeman," the
official Bernama news agency quoted him as saying. "However, the
incident will not affect our decision to send them back."

Malaysian Police chief Rahim Noor said the operation had to be
implemented to prevent overcrowding at detention camps and that
it had the full cooperation of the Indonesian government.

He said that 700 more Indonesians were dispatched for home
from Port Klang yesterday. The current wave of deportations will
continue today.

But human rights groups said the deaths of immigrants raised
concerns about the safety of the thousands of remaining
immigrants in Malaysia and called for an investigation.

"The deaths of eight Indonesians in a repatriation operation
in the early hours of this morning raise serious questions about
the (deportation) process," London-based Amnesty International
said in a statement late on Thursday.

Amnesty said it was concerned "about the level of force used
by the Malaysian authorities" and urged a full probe and checks
by independent sources at the camps.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has
also expressed concern at the deaths.

"UNHCR is deeply concerned about the deaths in detention camps
in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia," spokesman Kris Janowski was quoted by
Reuters as saying at a news briefing in Geneva.

Janowski said UNHCR had sent a letter to Malaysian authorities
on Thursday expressing concern.

"Our concern stems from the fact that there may be asylum-
seekers from northwest Sumatra in the group," Janowski said.

But Malaysian Foreign Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi denied
the immigrants were refugees and said they had come looking for
work, Bernama reported.

Indonesian officials have also flatly rejected the claim that
they are political refugees, arguing that they are illegal
immigrants who left their country to seek better living
conditions.

About 800,000 of two million foreign workers in Malaysia are
working illegally. The majority are Indonesian. (prb)