There has been no let-up in the angry reaction to yesterday's police round-up of 239 Achenese in Kuala Lumpur yesterday, outside the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

NGOs and an opposition party have held the government to account for its treatment of these asylum-seekers, whose undocumented status resulted because they were forced to flee war and persecution in their home province in Sumatra, Indonesia.

The asylum-seekers, including women and children, are currently being held at the Langkap detention centre in Perak. Some among them are of Burmese nationality.

Since the Indonesian government ordered an all-out offensive on May 19 against separatist elements in Aceh, thousands of civilians are suspected to have fled to adjacent Malaysia to escape the violence.

Under the circumstances, the UNHCR and rights groups fear that Acehnese will be at risk of being persecuted if forcibly repatriated.

Malaysia has not ratified the 1951 UN Convention on Refugees. Its immigration law stipulates that foreigners entering the country illegally are to be classified as 'illegal immigrants'. If convicted, they are liable to a jail term, whipping and deportation.

'Disregard for rights'

Parti Keadilan Rakyat information chief Rustam Sani said the party condemns the arrests in the "strongest terms" as it constitutes not only a violation of universal humanitarian principles, but also Malaysia's stark disregard of international law on the rights of refugees.

"The refugees from Aceh are mostly ordinary citizens forced to flee their homes because of the raging war between the Indonesian army and the Free Aceh Movement," Rustam said in a statement today.

"They have come simply because conditions in their homeland are too dangerous and a threat to their very existence."

If the Acehnese are held under the Immigration Act and deported, it would be considered grossly inhuman in view of the ongoing conflict in the province, Rustam said.

He also said it would be "particularly shameful" for the government to continue regarding these refugees of war as 'illegal immigrants' when large numbers of Acehnese have been accorded protection in places like the US, Canada, Norway, Sweden and Denmark.

Malaysia should begin respecting the values of civilised nations towards refugees, he added.

'Process at work'

Citizens' group Solidarity for Aceh said in a statement that the police action was "thoroughly contradictory to the support the government has shown against the recent Iraq war", when it encouraged thousands of Malaysians to campaign for peace.

"It is extremely unfair to arrest victims of conflict at the very point where they were seeking guarantees of safety from the United Nations," said its co-ordinator K Shan.

Since there is no proper Malaysian agency to handle refugees, the UNHCR has taken on the mantle to provide protection for asylum seekers, he noted.

However, the arrests at UNHCR's doorstep means that no space is at all tolerated for victims of conflict in Malaysia, and in effect interferes with the agency as the principle international body for refugees, he said.

"The ongoing conflict in the region means that refugees and asylum-seekers will continue to flow in. Rather than forcibly sending them home under such conditions, Malaysia should (provide) temporary protection until such a time that conflict subsides, or resettlement to a third country can be obtained," he said.

"We urge to authorities to...release those arrested in order that they may complete their accreditation with the UNHCR. There is clearly a defined process at work that should be respected. (There is also need to) reform the immigration law to take into account refugees and asylum-seekers."

He said Malaysia - as signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child - should ensure protection for children. Two children were in the group arrested yesterday.

In a related development, human rights organisation Amnesty International has called for urgent action by its members around the world to lobby for the detainees' release.

The organisation urged its supporters to send immediate appeals to Home Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Inspector-General of Police Norian Mai and Human Rights Commission of Malaysia chief Abu Talib Othman.