Nelson Graves, Kuala Lumpur – Indonesian immigrants seeking political asylum forced their way into four foreign embassy compounds in the Malaysian capital on Friday, diplomats and police said.
Malaysian police quickly removed the immigrants from the French and Swiss embassies and Brunei's diplomatic office in Kuala Lumpur, diplomats and police told Reuters.
But eight Indonesians who said they were from restive Aceh province in the north of Sumatra island, were still inside the U.S. embassy compound four hours after they had scaled a wall to get inside, U.S. officials said.
Several dozen Malaysian police stood outside two entrances to the U.S. embassy.
U.S. officials said they were talking to the U.N. refugee agency to decide what to do with the Acehnese, who entered the embassy at about 7:30 a.m.
The dramatic move came amid a Malaysian campaign to repatriate tens of thousands of Indonesians which has provoked expressions of concern from the United Nations and human rights groups.
"This is an international issue," Elizabeth Wong, co-ordinator of the Kuala Lumpur-based human rights group Suara Rakyat Malaysia (SUARAM), told Reuters.
An Acehnese leader told Reuters that the immigrants who entered the diplomatic missions on Friday were among more than 100 illegal entrants who escaped from the Lenggeng detention camp last month. He said they had co-ordinated their entry on Friday into the compounds and were seeking political asylum.
Last week, 14 Acehnese drove a truck through the gate of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees' (UNHCR) office in Kuala Lumpur to seek asylum. The UNHCR has been interviewing the immigrants to determine whether they deserve political asylum. The Acehnese say they will be persecuted if sent back to Aceh, where a separatist revolt peaked in the early 1990s.
Malaysian authorities removed eight immigrants from the French embassy on Friday after the mission allowed riot police to enter the compound, diplomats and police said.
A guard at the Swiss embassy said 14 Indonesians were taken away by Malaysian police after the immigrants climbed over a wall at the building and scuffled with guards.
Police Chief Bakri Zinin said seven Indonesians were also taken away from Brunei's diplomatic building.
"They are in the lock-up and we are treating them as illegal immigrants believed to be Indonesians," Bakri said.
The U.S. embassy said it would not allow police onto the U.S. compound until it had reached an understanding with the UNHCR.
"We are contacting the UNHCR office to see if we can resolve the situation," he said. "Until we reach a joint decision with the UNHCR, there will be no effort to make the immigrants leave the embassy."
Some Western diplomats said they were perplexed by the speed with which the French and Swiss allowed authorities to remove the Indonesians.
"We are glad the U.S. embassy is in contact with the U.N. refugee agency," SUARAM'S Wong said. "The French and Swiss have signed the international convention against forced repatriation, and should have done the same as the U.S."
French officials declined to comment and directed questions to the Foreign Ministry in Paris. Swiss and Bruneian officials could not be reached for comment.
The Acehnese leader, who was in contact with the immigrants, had appealed to the French earlier on Friday not to allow the police to enter the compound.
"They are being hunted and are seeking political asylum. We hope the French embassy and the international community will give support to their appeal," he said.
Malaysian officials could not be reached for comment. Kuala Lumpur has said it would allow the UNHCR time to assess whether the Indonesians on its compound deserved political asylum, but that it considered them to be illegal immigrants to be deported.
Indonesia's economic crisis has led to a wave of refugees heading towards Malaysia. Malaysia last month deported more than 1,000 Indonesian immigrants in an exercise that triggered deadly riots at the Semenyih detention centre outside Kuala Lumpur.
Authorities say eight Indonesians and one Malaysian policeman were killed in the Semenyih deportation.