RI frees two Malaysian from jail

RI frees two Malaysian from jail

Associated Press, Kuala Lumpur

Malaysia thanked Indonesia on Thursday for releasing two Malaysian accountants who were jailed for nearly two months for suspected visa violations.

Choo Yao Chin, 25, and Raimala Sivalingam, 29, employees of audit company KPMG, were arrested Aug. 17 in Makassar on Sulawesi island where they had been sent to assess an Indonesian mining company.

"We are thankful to the Indonesian authorities who have freed them," Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak said on Thursday after meeting with the two Malaysians, who returned to Kuala Lumpur the previous night.

Indonesian police said the pair needed business visas and rejected KPMG's claims that Malaysians do not need such visas when making short business trips to the neighboring country, the New Straits Times reported.

Choo was held at a police detention center that also houses hardcore criminals and Raimala was held at a women's detention center, the newspaper said.

Malaysia's Ambassador to Indonesia Zainal Abidin Zain persuaded the police to drop the charges after three days of negotiations in Makassar, The Star newspaper reported.

Scores of journalists, family members and colleagues greeted Choo and Raimala when they arrived in Kuala Lumpur late Wednesday.

Raimala attributed the incident to "being in the wrong place at the wrong time," according to the New Straits Times, and maintained that she and Choo did not flout any Indonesian laws.

"It was not exactly a pleasant experience," the daily cited Choo as saying. "The past two months have really been hard on everybody, myself, my family and KPMG."

Choo told The Star he was not ill treated or abused during his detention.

Zainal said Malaysians traveling to Indonesia for business should apply for a visa to be on the safe side.