Reme Ahmad, Kuala Lumpur – SOME 500 Indonesian textile workers in Negri Sembilan overturned vehicles and shouted profanities at policemen in a violent protest against a midnight anti-drug raid at their hostel.

Police said the workers, armed with knives, iron bars and wood, jeered and threw tables, chairs, bottles and stones at the officers, and later ran off to hide in their five-storey hostel.

While no one was hurt in the 12-hour standoff, the rioting could raise the anger of Malaysians who saw three cases of rioting and torching of detention centres by foreign workers last year.

Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said the police should take action against the Indonesians for rioting and deport them. "Whoever has committed an offence will have to face action," he said yesterday.

The latest incident started after narcotics officers completed urine tests on 200 night-shift workers at about 2 am yesterday. Police carried out the tests after receiving information of drug abuse among the migrant workers at the factory located in the Nilai industrial estate, about an hour's drive south of Kuala Lumpur.

"When police were about to take away the 16 workers who tested positive, their colleagues began rioting," a narcotics officer said.

A police truck was pushed down a slope into a drain, while a company van and a police car were overturned by the angry workers.

Of the 16 men who tested positive for drug abuse, 14 escaped during the confusion and ran into the hostel. The remaining two were detained.

Negeri Sembilan deputy police chief Assistant Commissioner Kamarulzaman Itam said that following negotiations, nine of the 14 surrendered to police.

Some 200 riot police armed with canes and batons, backed by three trucks mounted with water cannons, were called in. The standoff ended after representatives from the Indonesian Embassy came to "negotiate" with the workers to remain calm.