Noordin (not his real name), 45, an Acehnese who has been living in Malaysia for the past 12 years, was forced to flee his village of Lhockbungongta in 1987 when he was sought by the Indonesian military.

Suspected of supporting the secession struggle in the troubled Indonesian province on the northern tip of Sumatra, Nordin had no option but join the separatist movement, and to take to the camouflage of the surrounding jungles and mountains.

Was he a GAM member?

"I was not an active GAM member, but I was a sympathiser of their struggle. Definitely now, after what has happened, my struggle too is for the freedom of Aceh soil," said Noordin.

GAM is the acronym for the armed separatist group Gerakan Aceh Merdeka (or Free Aceh Movement) which is involved in a brutal conflict with the Indonesian military.

International human rights body Amnesty International estimates that between 1989 and 1992, about 2,000 people were killed by both sides.

Last month, Jakarta launched one of its biggest offensive in Aceh since the rebellious province was declared by the Suharto government as a 'Daerah Operasi Militer' (DOM, or Military Operational Area) 13 years ago, turning the area into a 'free-fire' zone.

Slow boat to Kedah

A year after Nordin fled to the jungles, his wife - who was also threatened by the military - decided to leave their home and join him in the jungle.

"They told her that if she did not reveal my whereabouts, they would take her and burn down our house."

Their one-year-old infant girl was passed on to her grandmother, while their three other children were forced to leave home even earlier.

"When DOM was declared in 1990, you really could not stay put, and you cannot even go down to the village for food."

"If the Indonesian army came to know of any GAM supporters, the policy would be to shoot first. If caught alive, they would be tortured. There's a saying 'for every one stick of cigarette given to GAM, there would be one piece of bullet for you,' said Noordin.

The reference was made to an infamous quote by a northern district commander of Indonesian military during the DOM operations, Syarowo Hamid.

"If you valued your safety, you had no choice but to go to a new country," he added.

In 1991, Noordin, his wife and their youngest child boarded a boat - bought at a cost of almost 2 million rupiah (RM1,000) - with 20 other Acehnese.

Their 'boat' was no more than an open, roofless dinghy, which became their home for four days and four nights as they crossed the Straits of Malacca for the coast of Kedah.

No rights as illegals

Noordin's first introduction to Malaysia was however, spent behind bars at the Kedah prison.

He wasn't caught by the police - Nordin and his fellow travellers had given themselves to the police, with the appeal that they be sent to the offices of the United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR) in Kuala Lumpur.

Instead, they were kept in a Kedah prison for four years - Noordin speculates that the reason for the sudden release only came following intense public scrutiny generated by protest by some Acehnese in front the UNHCR building in 1995.

His release was made together with 427 other Acehnese held in various camps across the country, including Semenyih and Juru.

According to Noordin, all were gathered in Langkap, Perak before being awarded special document, the IMM 13, which accorded them some rights despite still being considered as illegal migrants.

But the issuance of the permit proved to be temporary. By 1999, requests for document renewal was not entertained. For himself, his wife and and their children, they no longer have any right to protection under the law.

Their fifth and last child, despite being born at a Malaysian hospital, is considered stateless. She is now seven years old, but thanks to some Malaysian friends, she was enrolled under their name into government school in Gombak.

Lucky for Nordin and his family, they eventually received recognition by the UNHCR, and have been promised repatriation to a third country.

'A chance at peace'

At 25, Adam (not his real name) was forced to leave Aceh following his arrest, detention, and torture by the Indonesian military.

He was identified and caught in late 2001 for being a courier for GAM, of which his uncle was a member. Among those villagers who carried food provisions such as dried noodles, fish, and rice up to separatists hiding in the hills, he was nabbed two weeks after his uncle was caught.

"Admittedly, I would have become a GAM member, and was trained to use arms, but I could not because of my sick mother," said Adam.

For one week, he was forced to watch his uncle being tortured from behind the bars of his bamboo cage. While his uncle was killed, buried underneath burning rubber tires and crushed by an excavator, Adam said that he was forced to swim in the mud, or risk being whipped.

For little more than 2 million rupiah (RM 1,000), he eventually won his freedom, but with strict instructions to report to the army twice a week.

Five months later, after being constantly hounded by the military, Adam fled to Medan, bought himself a fake Indonesian passport, and entered Malaysia.

"It is easy to lose your real identity in Medan," he said. Adam's new identity had cost him approximately RM200.

But in August 2001, he and 116 others were arrested outside the UNHCR - while seeking help from the UN agency - and sent to Lenggeng illegal immigrants detention camp. Three months later, he was deported back to Indonesia via Dumai.

It was a return journey not meant for him. Halfway through the trip, Adam escaped from the police van he was travelling in and found his own way back to Dumai. From there, he was to be caught again, this time by soldiers who demanded RM250 as 'compensation'.

"Drained of money, I got to Tanjung Balai in Northern Sumatra, and from there took a boat with 25 other illegals for Port Klang. We arrived at the coast at 5am in the morning, but we had to lie quiet in the mud, up until 4pm," he said.

"I came into this country for the second time because I want a chance to live in peace."

Malaysia's dilemma

Like Noordin, Adam is also awaiting repatriation into a third country as there is little protection accorded to conflict-fleeing Acehnese under Malaysian laws. He expects a second interview with the Danish consul next month.

Approximately 2,000 Acehnese have been registered by the UNHCR, but far more remain undocumented and living in Malaysia.

Malaysian policy with regard to Aceh migrants since the renewal of conflict in May seem uncertain.

Most recently, the official government stance is to classify those entering Malaysia without proper visas as 'illegal immigrants'. Back in May however, the police had treated Acehnese entering the country as people migrating because of war.

Diplomatically, the Malaysian government has also been treading carefully and keeping quiet over human rights situation, despite, as history has shown, no solution on the Aceh question is expected anytime soon.

Largely, the human rights question is tied in with GAM's claims for secession, a position that most governments in the region find problematic.

At the recent Asean Ministerial Meeting in Phnom Penh this week, all 10 member nations gave their nod to Jakarta for its crackdown on GAM and its reassertion of territorial integrity.

More to come

According media reports yesterday, Indonesian security minister Bambang Yudhoyono admitted that the war in Aceh, which began on May 19, could take another six months before things wind down.

This is despite initial assessment by the military that the war will be short and quick.

Already the Jakarta Post estimates that 40,000 people have been displaced across the gas-rich province.

Malaysia, which has over the years grudgingly received Acehnese such as Nordin and Adam who fled from the war zone, should expect more to seek refuge in the country in the coming months.