Three RI migrants killed in brawl

Three RI migrants killed in brawl

KUALA LUMPUR: Three Indonesian migrant workers were stabbed to
death and several others injured during a clash between rival
gangs in Malaysia's eastern Sarawak state, news reports said
Tuesday.

Two of the dead were identified as Joni and Rosli, both 30.

The fight between ethnic Bugis and Bima workers occurred early
Monday after several of them quarreled at a wedding feast held in
a plantation in Batu Niah, some 120 kilometers south of Miri.

News reports did not say what the argument was about, but
cited Miri deputy police chief Abang Abdillah Othman as saying
that those involved in the brawl had been heavily drinking
alcohol. He added that one person was arrested and two long-
bladed knives were seized.

The plantation employs about 300 Indonesian workers from the
Bugis and Bima ethnic groups. Malaysia employs hundreds of
thousands of migrant workers from neighboring nations, especially
Indonesia.

But increasing riots, ethnic strife and crime involving
foreign laborers in recent years have prompted Malaysia to impose
mass deportations of illegal immigrants and more stringent entry
requirements. --AP