The government is reviewing plans to deport some 250 detained Acehnese asylum seekers and may grant them temporary stay, Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said today.

Although it is not Malaysia's policy to protect asylum seekers, Abdullah said the situation of the migrants from the war-torn Indonesian province of Aceh has to be given serious consideration.

"We are considering the possibility of giving them temporary stay but this is still uncertain. It needs serious consideration," he told reporters after opening a two-day Southeast Asian agricultural ministerial meeting.

"We have to get a report from the police about the status of those who are arrested, who they are."

UNHCR concern

Abdullah, who is also the home minister, was reported saying yesterday that Malaysia's stand on the Acehnese asylum seekers would be no different from that on other illegal immigrants, and they would be deported.

The Acehnese, including women and children, were detained Tuesday outside the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) office in Kuala Lumpur.

They are currently held in the Langkap detention centre in Perak, which is opposite Aceh across the narrow Malacca Strait.

The UNHCR has expressed alarm at Malaysia's "unprecedented action."

It urged the government to free the detainees and issue them temporary protection letters, saying refugees were not illegal immigrants under international law.

Malaysia is also bound by an international obligation not to deport immigrants to conflict regions even though it is not a signatory to the UN convention on refugees, it added.

Access allowed

"We never send people to conflict areas," Abdullah said when asked about the UNHCR's statement.

He said Malaysia's policy has always been to deport all illegal immigrants but noted it has also helped UNHCR send refugees to third countries for resettlement.

The UNHCR has not made any formal request to the government to free the Aceh migrants but the UN body would be given access to them if it wanted, he added. - AFP