Malaysia will not grant asylum to those who flee here from the war-torn Indonesian province of Aceh, said Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad today.

They will be treated as illegal immigrants hence subject to arrest and deportation, he added at a joint press conference with Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri at the end of their annual consultative talks in Kuching, Sarawak.

Mahathir said that Indonesia had employed many measures to curb the influx of illegal immigrants from there but added that the problem has yet to be resolved completely.

"We discussed this at today's meeting on how to make the control much more effective," he said.

"We want to determine where the migrants take off from in Indonesia, where they land in Malaysia, which one is legal, the points of entry, etc, and if they are illegal, how do we repatriate them," he added.

The premier said Malaysia was satisfied with the ideas proposed by Indonesia to curb this problem.

The decision not to grant asylum is a blow to the hundreds of Acehnese fleeing to Malaysia to escape the violence in their homeland which is locked in a bloody struggle for independence.

In May, the Indonesian army was given orders to engage the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) separatist rebels.

Several quarters, including the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), have called on the Malaysian government to draw a distinction between asylum seekers and illegal immigrants.

Deportation underway

Last Monday, the police detained more than 200 Acehnese, including women and children, as they attempted to seek protection at the UNHCR office in Kuala Lumpur.

Following their arrest, Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said the government was considering the possibility of granting them a temporary stay.

However, a news report today claimed that 44 of them had been deported while the rest were still being held at the Langkap detention centre in Perak.

Meanwhile, commenting on the bilateral talks, Megawati said both countries had discussed ways of strengthening cooperation in areas of security and exchange of intelligence, especially in combating terrorism.

"We are working very closely with Malaysia and other Asean countries in this area," she added.

To the question that Indonesia has become a terrorist target due to the perception that it did not do enough to quell terror activities there, the president said such attacks were not limited to her country alone.

"As we've seen recently, suicide bombings involved several countries," stressed Megawati.