Mahathir, habibie meet on immigrants

Mahathir, habibie meet on immigrants

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters): The leaders of Malaysia and Indonesia on Wednesday held face-to-face talks overshadowed by a bank scandal that has cast doubt over Indonesian President B.J. Habibie's bid for a second term.

Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and the visiting Indonesian leader said they discussed an influx of Indonesian immigrants into Malaysia and the delivery of military transport planes to it.

"The meeting, as usual, was very efficient and went on well," Habibie told reporters after his second bilateral meeting with Mahathir in three months.

But their joint news conference was dominated by questions over Indonesia's Bank Bali scandal, which revolves around the payment of a large loan collection fee by the bank to a company headed by a senior official of the ruling Golkar party.

Mahathir said the two leaders met alone and later in delegations, and discussed Indonesian immigrants in Malaysia. In May, Mahathir said Malaysia had faced an influx of illegal immigrants in the first three months of 1999 equal to all of 1998.

Bilateral ties came under pressure after Asia's financial crisis erupted in mid-1997 and Kuala Lumpur began deporting thousands of Indonesian nationals, including some Acehnese who had sought asylum in Malaysia.

An estimated 2,000 people, most of them civilians, died over the past decade in an insurgency in Aceh, on the northern tip of Sumatra island.

"We agree there are Acehnese immigrants here, but we don't give any freedom to them to do something that will be disruptive to Indonesia. We don't give them any support to separate any regions," Mahathir said.

Mahathir said the two leaders agreed the flow of immigrants should be more orderly. "In the future, we will endeavor to see those coming here are not only unskilled workers, but also semi- skilled and skilled workers," he said.

Bilateral relations were strained further during the trial of former Malaysian deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim, who was sentenced in April to six years in jail for corruption.

Late last year Habibie expressed concern about Anwar's treatment and Kuala Lumpur made no secret of its irritation with Habibie's support for Anwar.

Habibie on Wednesday brushed aside questions about Anwar. "Look, I leave it to the procedure here in your country," he said.

Mahathir said Indonesia would deliver three CN235 military transport planes by the end of this month and another three in October.

Malaysia signed an agreement in February 1995 to buy the planes costing 286 million ringgit (US$75 million) but the aircraft, made by Industri Pesawat Terbang Nusantara (IPTN), have not yet been delivered.