Malaysian police raid invokes Indian fury

KUALA LUMPUR: Over 270 of Indian nationals working as computer specialists in Kuala Lumpur were rounded up by police on Sunday on the suspicion of being illegal workers. Though the police released almost all the men by late on Sunday, Indian diplomats have however, expressed outrage over their treatment.

"Computer specialists are the most sought after Indian professional community, wanted in the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany, and they've been asked by Malaysian companies to work here and they are treated like this," said Indian High Commissioner Veena Sikri.

Sikri said she had registered a verbal protest with the Malaysian government, and had written asking for an explanation.

The men were taken into custody after a dawn raid on an apartment block in a predominantly ethnic Indian neighborhood, where a large number of IT professionals from Andhra Pradesh were staying.

Closes to a hundred were immediately released, but the rest, some in their bed clothes, were taken to a nearby police station.

There they were handcuffed and held in a vehicle shed for several hours despite holding valid passports and visas. Sikri said her officials were initially denied consular access.

There were some complaints of rough treatment of a few taken to a detention centre. Indian diplomats also showed Reuters pages from several passports returned by the police with photographs scratched out and computer readable data on the visa erased.

"These were educated software professionals being treated as common petty criminals," said Arshad Khan, country manager of World Wide Info System, an employer of a few of the workers.

Over a dozen men were still being held, due to alleged passport irregularities, a police official told Reuters.

Short of its own skilled IT workers, Malaysia has looked to tap India's computer savvy labor pool to help its Multi-media Super Corridor (MSC) hi-tech zone take off.

Richer than most of its neighbors, and with a relatively small population of 24 million, Malaysia depends on imported labor in several sectors, but remains fearful that it could become overrun by immigrant workers.

Last year, Malaysia threw out hundreds of thousands of illegal workers from Indonesia and Philippines, leading to labor shortages, notably in the construction sector.

® Reuters