MALAYSIAN DRUG RAID ENDS IN RIOT

Hundreds of Indonesian immigrant workers have rioted in central Malaysia
after a police drugs raid on their hostel.

About 400 textile workers threw stones, chairs and bottles, and overturned
police vehicles before retreating to the hostel in Nilai.

Police say the violence began after they tried to detain 16 workers who had
failed urine tests for drug abuse. Fourteen of the suspects escaped. The
protests come just over a month after 2,000 illegal Indonesian immigrants
rioted and set fire to a detention centre in southern Malaysia.

Embassy Called In

Police asked the Indonesian embassy to mediate and an embassy official
later said the situation had calmed.

The official said Indonesian workers had to abide by local laws and urged
them to co-operate with police.

Malaysia has between 700,000 to one million foreign workers, mainly from
Indonesia, India, Bangladesh, Thailand, Burma and the Philippines.

Estimates put the number of illegal immigrants in the hundreds of thousands.

The Malaysian Government announced last year it would deport 10,000
Indonesian illegal immigrants each month.

It says their presence has led to a growth in crime and fewer jobs for
locals affected by the economic slowdown.