Human rights body Suaram has rebuked the Malaysian government for its myopic policy of classifying all asylum-seekers as 'illegal immigrants', including those escaping war and persecution.

Suaram co-ordinator Eric Paulsen said the government's "crude big stick approach" to lump Acehnese as undocumented persons will not solve the problem, but would intensify suffering and even sign their death warrant if they are forced to return home to the Indonesian province.

"We are appalled at Malaysia's continuing disregard of international law with regard to the treatment towards asylum seeker and refugees," he said in a statement in the wake of fresh arrests of Acehnese outside the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) building in Kuala Lumpur.

Paulsen said the authorities should discern the "gulf of difference" between economic migrants - for example Indonesian and Bangladeshi workers seeking better employment - and Acehnese and Burmese asylum-seekers fleeing from war and persecution in their own countries.

Based on an estimate released by the UNHCR, about 200 Acehnese asylum-seekers, including women and children, were arrested.

'Reform laws'

Paulsen said Suaram believed that 17 women and four children picked up by officers from the Brickfields district police headquarters at roadblocks along roads leading to the UN agency.

"(Although) Malaysia is not a signatory to the 1951 UN Convention on Refugees, there is widely accepted prohibition of non-refoulement (expulsion or forced return) that is part of customary international law ... Malaysia must still respect the principle even if it is not party to the convention," Paulsen said.

He also urged that all those detained be released, based on the rationale that Malaysian immigration laws were not intended to punish refugees - only those who have a choice and decide to enter Malaysia in disregard of immigration laws.

Malaysian law stipulates that foreigners entering the country illegally are to be classified as 'illegal immigrants'. If convicted, they are liable to a jail term, whipping and deportation.

"Questions raised on the propriety of harsh immigration laws and the hardline policy against all undocumented persons cannot be ignored with simplistic assertions that 'all must obey the laws', 'the law applies to everyone', or 'do not interfere in the running of our country'," he said.

"The laws and policies of any country should generally be recognised and command the usual respect and obligation. There are, however, also iniquitous laws and policies that demand scrutiny, criticism and reform."

'Choice possible'

In a separate statement, the DAP called on the government to grant the Acehnese asylum based on humanitarian grounds, at least until the military offensive in the troubled Indonesian province ends and peace is restored.

Its Youth international secretary John Chung said Malaysia could still choose to pay heed to the principles laid out under the UN refugee convention, particularly if it "professes to be a caring government".

Irrespective of whether or not the Acehnese carry the blue UN document signifying that they have third-country resettlement, they should be afforded protection and not penalised for escaping war, he added.

Since the Indonesian government ordered an all-out offensive on May 19 against separatist elements in the province of Aceh in Sumatra, thousands of civilians are suspected to have fled to adjacent Malaysia to escape the violence.

Given the circumstances, the UN and rights groups fear that Acehnese will be at risk of being persecuted if forcibly repatriated.