The Foreign Ministry disaffirmed Friday reports of Indonesians being recruited by Askar Wathaniyah, a Malaysian paramilitary force deployed near the Indonesia-Malaysia border on the island of Borneo.

Ministry spokesman Kristiarto Soeryo Legowo said corroboration attempts by Indonesian authorities overseeing border areas nearest the Malaysian cities of Kuching and Kinibalu hadn't yielded results.

The reports were raised recently by Indonesian legislators -- House of Representatives Commission I members overseeing defense and foreign affairs -- who said the information came from former commanders of the Tanjungpura Command that oversees the military in Kalimantan.

"The fact-finding process is still ongoing, but so far we have found no Indonesians being recruited as members of that force," said Kristiarto adding that the Malaysian government had similarly failed to corroborate the reports.

Kristiarto suggested that if recruitments of the nature reported had occurred it was possible the recruits were either Malaysians of Indonesian descent or Indonesians employed by companies operating in border areas.

He said employees of companies providing security services in border areas were known to receive military-type training. "But they're not in any official paramilitary force of Malaysia."

He added that Indonesian citizens choosing to associate with defense forces of a foreign country risked the loss of Indonesian citizenship.

The latest reports add fuel to a simmering tension between the two neighboring states which flared up following the dispute over possession of Sipadan, Ligitan and Ambalat islands and well-publicized incidents of mistreatment of Indonesian migrant workers by Malaysian employers.

Foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are scheduled to come together in one of their regular retreats from Feb. 19-20 in Singapore.

The foreign ministry said the reports on militia recruitment and the Defense Cooperation Agreement (DCA) had not been added to the agenda for a day of bilateral meetings with Singapore slated for Feb. 18.

However, the retreat is expected to see ASEAN Charter follow-up work and emerging action plans and guidelines for ASEAN's security, economic and socio-cultural communities, some of which have a year-end deadline.

Next week's meeting will also touch on the establishment process for an ASEAN human rights body and the posting of envoys representing each member state at the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta.

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