It was a Sunday - normally a day to take a break from work for a group of Indian professionals living at the Palm Court Condominium in Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur.

But it was a day of rest that was not meant to be. For the 200-odd Indian information technology expatriate workers, the morning started with a rude jolt when groups of uniformed and plainclothes police officers entered their homes and arrested them o­n suspicion of immigration offences.

Handcuffed and detained for at least eight hours, all except for a few individuals were released when their documents proved authentic, as they had pointed out to the law enforcers.

When met at the Palm Court complex three days after the incident, the Indian nationals were clearly still angry over the day's events - more than 150 of them turned up to air their grievances to DAP leaders including chairperson Lim Kit Siang and Bukit Bintang MP Fong Kui Lun, who were o­n a fact-finding visit last night.

Dragged out of bed

K Venkat, a 35-year-old application systems engineer, said he was asleep when a police officer entered his room and dragged him out of bed by his shirt collar.

"I was shocked. I did not know what was happening. I asked the police what it was all about but they refused to answer. They just kept saying 'Come out, come out'," he related.

Venkat said the police demanded to see his passport but after handing over the document, he was escorted to the ground floor. He was handcuffed and made to kneel (demonstrated in photo) together with about 100 of his countrymen who were already there.

"I told (the police) that I have a visa with a Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) company. But they told me to go downstairs. There I found my friends sitting o­n the road, some without shirts and some without pants," he said.

After two hours, several police officers arrived and took about 200 Indian nationals assembled there to the Brickfields police station.

"I have worked in the United States for two years, I have worked in Singapore for two years and I have never experienced anything like this. Can the police just do this to us? Did we do anything wrong?" he asked, visibly upset.

Another professional, S Srinivasan, said that o­n arrival at the police station, the group was asked to sit at parking area while they waited for police to verify their documents.

"They made us sit at the car park from 9am to 4pm. We had no water, no food and we were handcuffed together all this time," said the 27-year-old software engineer.

"My employer came after o­ne hour but the police did not want to listen to him. The Indian High Commission officials came but they were not allowed to do anything," he said.

"It was o­nly after the immigration officers came at 5pm and said that our visas were valid that we were released."

Documents valid?

However, when their passports were returned, the Indian nationals were shocked to discover that a number of the documents had been defaced by the police.

"Look, they scratched out the photos o­n our visas. They scratched out the expiry dates and they scratched out the numbers," said Srinivasan, displaying several employment visas in the passports. (photo)

According to him, although the Immigration officers noticed the condition of the visas, they made no comment as to whether the documents were still valid.

"The Immigration people o­nly checked the visas with a scanner. We don't know whether the visas are valid or not now that they have been defaced," he noted.

Furthermore, Srinivasan said that when several members of the group attempted to show police their expatriate identity cards, the police denied any knowledge of such items.

"They doubted our visas but when we showed them the expatriate cards, they didn't know what these were. How can this be? What is the immigration (department) doing about this?"

Malaysia truly Asia ?

In addition to their problems with the damaged visas, many of those gathered were also keen to relate their grievances over police treatment during their arrest.

C Sharma, a 35-year-old web engineer ( photo ), said four officers pushed their way into his apartment without identifying themselves and "manhandled" him and his house guests.

"They asked us for our passports but when we tried to get them, they pushed us back down and hit us. I was wearing o­nly a lungi ( sarong) at the time. I did not have my passport with me, but they hit me," he said indignantly.

According to Ram Prasad who was o­n a business trip to Malaysia, the police made no distinction in his case although he was o­nly a visitor.

"They were in no mood to listen to us. All they said that our visas were not valid and that we were illegal," he said.

"Malaysia advertises for tourists everywhere in India but when we come, this is how they treat us. Is this Malaysia truly Asia?"

Long wait ahead

Sharma said that following the incident, some 30 persons have already left Malaysia while some moved out of the Palm Court complex for fear of further police action. Others have booked air tickets in preparation to leave by the end of the month.

"This is so bitter and agonising an experience that I will never forget it. I work in a company that makes software products that are marketed in four countries. We even won awards from Microsoft and IBM. How can they treat us like this dragging us out by the collar?" he asked.

"I am prepared to leave this country but my employer is trying to convince me to stay. I want to see what the government is going to do to ensure our security so that this kind of thing does not happen again."

As it is now, the Indian professionals are likely to have to wait while Malaysian authorities continue to hem and haw over how to respond appropriately to the protests made by the Indian government.

Judging from the vehement denial of mistreatment by both Foreign Affairs Minister Syed Hamid Albar and Kuala Lumpur deputy police chief Ahmad Bahrin Idrus, the wait is likely to be a long and frustrating o­ne.