JAKARTA - Separatist rebels in Indonesia's Aceh province urged Malaysia today to release more than 200 Acehnese asylum-seekers detained by the authorities last week.

Ishak Daud, a senior commander of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), said Malaysia should not repatriate them like it did to a group of Acehnese in 1998.

"The Malaysian government must protect Acehnese who fled the war caused by the Indonesian military and police operations," Daud told AFP by telephone.

Daud said he was one of the asylum-seekers forcibly repatriated in 1998.

"If such an incident happens again, the Acehnese people will some day take revenge," he warned.

No valid documents

A total of 232 Acehnese, including women and children, were detained on last week as they tried to seek asylum at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees office in Kuala Lumpur.

About 50 more were detained last Tuesday . They are all placed in Langkap detention centre in Perak.

The UN refugee agency has protested to the Malaysian government.

Malaysia has rejected criticism of the arrests, saying the Acehnese were picked up because they did not have valid travel documents and that allowing them in could spark a flood of illegal immigrants.

Indonesia on May 19 launched a massive operation to crush the separatist guerrillas and says more than 760 rebels have been killed since then.

Human rights activists and other groups have questioned whether the military figure for rebels also include civilians.

Indonesia's top security minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Monday urged Malaysia to reject the asylum-seekers.

Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and visiting Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri were due to meet today in Kuching, Sarawak, and were expected to discuss the issue.

Daud said he feared that talks would result in Malaysia agreeing to repatriate the group. - AFP