Police launched a major manhunt Tuesday after 109 inmates escaped from the Lenggeng immigration depot in Negeri Sembilan state, south of the capital Kuala Lumpur.
On Monday night the detainees, mainly from Myanmar, Bangladesh, Nepal, Iran, Thailand and Nigeria, burned down an accommodation block before fleeing.
More than 200 policemen, immigration officials and paramilitary volunteers are combing central Negeri Sembilan following the breakout.
District police chief Saiful Azly told AFP 58 inmates were arrested after being found in a nearby forest.
"The manhunt is continuing. I urge the remaining escapees to surrender," he said.
"Investigations showed that they were dissatisfied over cramped living conditions, the food and long detention periods," Abdul Manan Mohamad Hassan, state deputy police chief, was quoted as saying by the official Bernama news agency.
Abdul Manan said many had lost patience over the long process needed to resettle in third countries under the United Nations refugee agency programme.
Home ministry officials admitted last August to poor standards at detention centres for illegal immigrants and trafficking victims, after a report labelled the facilities "ticking time bombs".
Rights group Voice of the Malaysian People (Suaram) Wednesday urged the government to investigate the causes of the incident.
"Suaram believes that there may be other contributing factors as to why the detainees had set the building on fire and escaped from the detention centre," it said.
It said "abuse of power and physical abuse" by immigration officers and paramilitary volunteers were the main reasons behind a fire at the detention centre in April 2008.
With one of Asia`s largest populations of foreign labourers, Malaysia relies on its 1.8 million immigrants to clean homes, care for children and work in plantations and factories.
Malaysia is seen as a staging post for trafficking gangs moving people from Afghanistan and Myanmar to Indonesia and Australia.
(U.KR-IFB//H-AK)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
