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.