Ian Stewart in Kuala Lumpur and Jenny Grant in Jakarta

Hunger is forcing thousands of Indonesians to flee to Malaysia, police there said yesterday.

A senior police officer said recent batches of illegal immigrants from Indonesia sought arrest so that they could enjoy proper meals.

"Those interviewed told the authorities that it was better to eat rice in our jails than to survive on sweet potatoes or tapioca in their villages," he said.

Sulaiman Ali, commander of the general operations force central brigade, made the comment as illegal immigrants continued to flood into Malaysia despite tightened controls along border areas.

He said the interviews also revealed that more people were waiting to enter Malaysia illegally to "escape the economic hardship in their respective countries".

Malaysian police avoid referring to Indonesia directly, in accordance with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations compact that a member should not interfere in a neighbour's internal affairs, but have disclosed that the new immigrants are predominantly Indonesian.

In the past three weeks, police have detained 3,971 people landing illegally by boat in Peninsular Malaysia. During the whole of last year, the number of people detained in similar circumstances was 5,432. Apart from these "known" landings, many illegal immigrants are thought to have entered without being detected.

The deputy director of internal security and public order, Yusof Mohamad Said, who last week called on the public to help police cope with an "alarming" increase in illegal immigrants by making citizens' arrests, has proposed that a prison closed in 1996 be used to house the latest arrivals.

Mr Yusof said the 103-year-old Pudu Prison in Kuala Lumpur, which has been turned into a tourist attraction, should be reopened because official centres could hold only 1,000 more illegal immigrants in addition to the 11,000 in detention.

Senior police commanders have asked the Government to introduce tougher penalties for the operators of boats carrying illegal immigrants, including caning.

Food shortages have been reported in the Indonesian provinces of Central Sulawesi, East Kalimantan and Maluku due to a five-month drought. But there is concern the country's economic crisis may also be contributing to the influx of illegals.

In East Kalimantan there have been food shortages in several inland areas. Villagers on the Mahakam River either have no rice or cannot afford the supplies being brought in, and are eating root vegetables such as cassava and sago instead.