Analysis of Arrest and Detention of Acehnese in Kuala Lumpur

September 2003

On 19th August Malaysian police arrested nearly 300 Acehnese seeking recognition of refugee status outside the United Nations High Commission for Refugees Liaison Office (UNHCR) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The police subsequently blockaded the UNHCR office for the next two weeks, arrested more refugees, and effectively shut down UNHCR’s operations in Kuala Lumpur.

Analysis of the events suggested that this was not initially a directive of the Malaysian government. Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi initially responded to the arrests by describing them as a standard arrest of illegal immigrants. Following some international and local criticism that these were refugees at risk of being forcibly returned to a conflict zone he revised his position, stating that Malaysia would not send refugees back into a war zone. Senior Immigration Ministry officials were at first unaware that the arrests had taken place. Much later, following further international pressure, the Foreign Minister stepped in to issue a hardline response subsequently softened after official protests from UNHCR’s Geneva head office. The Indonesian government called for the return of the Acehnese, stating that there was no grounds for them to seek asylum since matters in Aceh were under control - a claim contested by its own national human rights commission, Komnas HAM. The final government position came from Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad himself following a state visit by Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri, when they met in the East Malaysian city of Kuching to discuss several matters of import.

There were no systematic arrests of refugees or Acehnese occurring in the rest of Malaysia which suggested that this was a matter confined solely to UNHCR. Those working closely with refugee issues in Malaysia suggested that this was in fact an initiative of the police itself, which had emerged in response to overcrowding at the UNHCR gates following the institution of a new refugee registration system which stipulated that a day of the working week would be assigned to each major refugee nationality. Acehnese would only be registered on Tuesdays. The first week of the new system’s operation saw the access road to UNHCR rendered impassable as numbers of would-be registrants exceeded the new system’s capacity, to the displeasure of neighbours which include the Retired Officers Club and the Royal Palace.

What may have started out as a heavy-handed police operation rapidly ballooned into an international issue that drew in the highest levels of the Malaysian government. The latter may not have initiated action but it has, willingly or not, stated its position on the issue as it tries to mediate between competing political pressure from Indonesia and UNHCR.

Contributed by Malaysian analyst who prefers to remain anonymous.