A Penang Gerakan leader has praised the Indonesian police on their swift capture of Umno's Jamal Yunos, despite the country being large compared to Malaysia.

"Why is it our Malaysian police could not arrest him while he was here?" Gerakan national legal and human rights bureau chief Baljit Singh said to Malaysiakini.

"The Malaysian police has also been unable to trace the ex-husband of M Indira Gandhi, so she can reconcile with her youngest daughter.

"Why is it so difficult to do so? If there is a will, there is a way," he said, referring to counsel and cabinet minister M Kulasegaran's plans to meet the inspector-general of police to expedite the process of finding Indira's daughter, who was taken by ex-husband Muhammad Riduan Abdullah.

Baljit urged the Malaysian government to investigate how Jamal, the Sungai Besar Umno division chief, could "slip unnoticed" to Indonesia.

"Our border must lack the security and we should probe why this could happen, that an alleged fugitive could escape so easily via our borders.

"Was there anyone behind his escape? Was there any corruption involved to help him escape?"

"This shows that anyone could come into our country and this does not bode well for our people here, the border patrol units need to be improved as well," added the lawyer.

The Indonesian police are expected to release Jamal into the custody of Malaysian authorities for deportation back to Kuala Lumpur later today or tomorrow.

It is learnt that Jamal, who was arrested in Tebet, Jakarta yesterday, is currently being detained at Indonesian police headquarters, with a Malaysian police team also present.

On May 22, Jamal was detained by police while seeking treatment at the Ampang Puteri Specialist Hospital.

He was wanted for various offences, including under Section 290 of the Penal Code concerning public nuisance and Section 34 of the Arms Act 1960 which concerns the carrying of a firearm while drunk or disorderly.

Three days later, while in hospital, he was charged under Section 290 of the Penal Code but absconded during the bail process.

He had repeatedly claimed that he would surrender himself to police. However, it was later revealed that he had fled to Indonesia.