Rival Indonesian gangs clash in Malaysia, one person killed
Rival Indonesian gangs clash in Malaysia, one person killed
Agencies, Kuala Lumpur
Malaysian authorities detained 350 Indonesian immigrant workers armed with machetes after one man was fatally slashed in a clash between rival gangs, police said on Sunday.
Several houses were torched during the fighting on Saturday in Gombak district, just north of Kuala Lumpur, involving migrant factions from the Indonesian islands of Flores and Madura, a Gombak police spokesman said on customary condition of anonymity.
Police went to a construction site north of the capital on Saturday to investigate reports that a person had been killed in the clash between rival clans of Indonesian workers there, the New Straits Times said.
A 48-year-old Indonesian was killed in the fray, which was apparently caused by a dispute over a woman, the spokesman said. Investigations were underway, but no suspect has been pinpointed in connection to the murder.
On arrival, they were met by about 100 Indonesians armed with machetes.
Outnumbered five-to-one, the policemen left. They returned an hour later as a force of 300, including riot police.
The Indonesians fled to a nearby jungle, but 350 of them were later rounded up, Gombak district police chief Massari Hashim was quoted as saying.
Police also seized a large number of machetes and sticks.
Police initially detained more than 200 Indonesian construction workers who fled into a nearby jungle after the clash. About 50 remained in custody on Sunday, including many without immigration papers, police said.
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.
However, Malaysia's migrant workers include hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens, mostly from Indonesia and the Philippines, whom officials accuse of involvement in crime.
The government last year expelled more than 300,000 illegal immigrants, but the crackdown sparked a severe labor shortage in the construction industry. The government eventually brought in 500,000 new migrant workers, mostly Indonesians, to ease the crisis.