The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that more than 200 Acehnese - including women and children - were arrested by the police this morning.

The police cordoned off all roads leading up to its office in Bukit Petaling, Kuala Lumpur, before detaining the Acehnese, who had arrived in taxis and private vehicles.

They were stopped, immediately put into police trucks and taken to the Brickfields district police headquarters (right).

Malaysiakini was informed by some detained Acehnese that about 400 people were in the custody of the Brickfields police. District police chief Zulhasnan Najib was not available for comment.

Late this evening, however, a Brickfields police officer clarified the number stood at 239. While he declined to confirm if any of the Acehnese had been released, sources said about 30 had been freed.

UNHCR refugee eligibility co-ordinator Evan Ruth (right) told reporters that the police roadblocks were already set up by the time the office opened at 7.15am, complete with trucks to ferry away the detainees.

However, some 150 asylum-seekers - mainly Acehnese and some Burmese - who had arrived prior to the setting up of the roadblocks were able to enter the UNHCR compound safely, he said.

'Inconsistencies' in arrests

UNHCR officers noted "inconsistency" in the pattern of arrests. While police personnel at two locations arrested only Aceh asylum-seekers, officers manning another roadblock also arrested asylum-seekers from Burma and other countries.

They also observed that Acehnese carrying the blue UN document - the identification carried by a small number of asylum-seekers from Aceh who have obtained settlement in a third country - were not detained.

"Most (of the Acehnese) are undocumented but under international law, they should not be penalised just because they are trying to escape (conflict)," he said.

Since the Indonesian government ordered an all-out offensive in May against separatist elements in the province of Aceh in Sumatra, thousands of Acehnese are suspected to have fled to adjacent Malaysia to escape the violence.

The UNHCR in Kuala Lumpur recently set aside Tuesdays to process and verify the applications of Acehnese seeking temporary protection letters, which explains the large number who showed up today.

Last week, approximately 630 Acehnese were at the office to submit their applications. Of these, about 400 were directed to return today for their documents to be processed, said Ruth.

Meeting today

Asked how UNHCR plans to react, Ruth said a meeting has been scheduled this afternoon between the agency, the Home Ministry and Foreign Affairs Ministry to find a constructive solution.

The UNHCR has been in regular contact with the two ministries as well as the Brickfields police to discuss an effective protection regime for Acehnese asylum-seekers.

In a statement released after the arrests, UNHCR called on the government to assume a "greater degree of responsibility" in the registration of those seeking protection in Malaysia.

"UNHCR encourages the government to grant asylum to those fleeing conflict in Aceh and treatment in accordance to international standards," it said.

"International declarations emphasise that providing asylum to those trying to escape war should be viewed strictly as a humanitarian act. Regrettably, it is sometimes suggested that providing refugee protection in Malaysia may be somehow sensitive or harmful to bilateral relations."

It added that this view "is troubling since nearly all those approaching UNHCR are non-combatants who are seeking protection from GAM (the Free Aceh Movement) as much as from the military forces".

Malaysia has not ratified the 1951 UN Convention on Refugees, despite the fact that the treaty has long been recognised by other states as customary international law.

As such, there is no differentiation in treatment of Acehnese fleeing conflict. They are still classified as 'illegal immigrants' and therefore subject to jail term, whipping and deportation. Acehnese in particular could be subjected to persecution upon their return home.

This is not the first time that police have acted against illegal immigrants outside the UNHCR building. In June last year, they detained 135 illegal immigrants who were waiting in line outside the UN agency to apply for asylum.