APSN Banner

Illegal immigrants riot at holding centre in Johor

Source
Agence France Presse - March 29, 2000

Hundreds of Indonesian illegal immigrants rioted at a holding centre in Johor. Local newspaper reports quoted an Indonesian consulate official as saying that the riot began after a detainee was allegedly assaulted by a guard and sent to hospital.

The detainees threatened to burn down the holding centre if their demand to be sent home was not met. This went on for about 12 hours, but fortunately no one was injured.

Police later sent some 900 detainees back to Indonesia to reduce tension at the camp. The camp houses illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, the Philippines and Nigeria.

The clash is the latest in a series of violent incidents involving Indonesian workers in the country, prompting a top police officer to issue a stern warning for foreign workers to obey the law.

Official figures show there are about 700,000 foreigners working legally in Malaysia in 1999, but it is believed that there are another hundreds of thousands, mostly from Indonesia and Bangladesh, working illegally.

Country