RI immigrants deported

JAKARTA: Some 1,615 Indonesians held in jail in Malaysia for violating immigration laws were deported and sent home yesterday on board an Indonesian naval vessel from Johor Baru to Tanjung Perak in Surabaya, Antara reported yesterday.

Conducted under an Indonesian-Malaysian cooperation program, it was the third deportation batch this year following a group of 1,020 people in January and 1,588 people in July.

Unlike the two previous batches, this time the group consisted not only of Indonesians who broke Malaysian immigration laws, but also convicts from various prisons in Malaysia.

According to data from the Indonesian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, 1,450 of the Indonesians sent home on board the navy's Tanjung Oisina were offenders of Malaysian immigration laws who had been held at immigration detention centers at Lengging and Macab Umbo in Malacca State and Pekan Nenas Johor.

The other 165 were convicts from jails in Kajang Selangor, Sempang Renggam and Johor.