MALAYSlA stepped up the deportation of Indonesian illegal immigrants held in detention centres yesterday, with the aim of sending home all inmates within days.
Malaysia's national police chief, Inspector-General Rahim Noor, said the move was necessary to ensure the camps were not overcrowded and to prevent 'any critical situation'.
He said the number of illegal immigrants in the camps also had to be reduced to make way for Indonesians continuing to arrive in Malaysia.
The police action came after Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad gave the green light for the deportation programme to continue despite the resistance of some Indonesian refugees, which led to a bloody clash on Thursday between inmates and police at the Semenyih camp near Kuala Lumpur. Nine Indonesians and an officer were killed.
A number of those injured in the fighting and other camp inmates were among more than 500 Indonesians who arrived back at a port in northern Sumatra on an Indonesian naval vessel yesterday.
As police were moving Indonesians out of camps, Indonesia's new Vice-President, Jusuf Habibie, stopped over in Kuala Lumpur for talks with Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on the illegal immigrants issue and other matters on his way to London for the Asia-Europe Meeting.