Photo exhibition portrays horrors of Burmese refugees

Source : Malaysiakini

Christine Chan
Oct 17, 09
9:07am

Images of refugees in deplorable living conditions, poignant facial expressions, distraught children form the gist of the work of five international photojournalists who documented the lives of Burmese refugees in Malaysia.

A rare exhibition titled ‘No Refuge: Burmese Refugees in Malaysia’ depicting the conditions of refugees was launched yesterday at The Annexe Gallery in Kuala Lumpur’s Central Market.

The exhibition will last until the Oct 25.

“The work of Greg Constantine (USA), Halim Berbar (France), Rahman Roslan (Malaysia), Simon Wheatley (UK) and Zhang Wubin (Singapore) reveals the underside of the most marginalised people in Malaysia,” said Klang member of parliament, Charles Santiago.

In his speech when opening the event, he said that a report had been published by the US Department of State on trafficking activities in Malaysia, where refugees were sold at the Thai and Malaysia’s border.

“In the report, refugees who are now residing in the US, and who once lived in Malaysia, were interviewed and they have one thing in common. All of them have been sold,” he told a crowd of 60 people.

He also accused the government of being in denial on the issues of human trafficking.

Kicking them when down

However, Santiago (right) credited the government for taking some action to arrest traffickers in the last couple of months.

“But this will not solve the problem because trafficking is a systemic collaboration of government officers and syndicates, therefore we need to fix this at the level of structure and enforcement,” he adds.

Arts programme director of The Annexe, Pang Khee Teik, in commenting on the trafficking and the harsh living conditions, said that this was akin to ‘kicking them when they are down’.

“This is what Malaysias are doing to the refugees,” he said.

The audience were also treated to a performance by two Burmese musicians.

Thiam Pui, a refugee from the Chin state sang about how much she misses her country and she was accompanied by Sang Kawn, another refugee from the Mon state who played the guitar.

No protection for refugees

Santiago also launched a nationwide petition campaign by Suara Rakyat Malaysia (Suaram) entitled “Sign the Refugee Convention and Stop the Arrest, Detention and Deportation of Refugees”.

Suaram is expecting to collect at least 10,000 signatures from Malaysians by May 21, 2010 to be submitted to Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

This is a move to ensure that refugees are recognised and given better access to livelihood and to encourage cooperation between the government and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugee (UNHCR).

Unfortunately, Malaysia is one of the few remaining countries that has ratified neither the 1951 Refugee Convention nor the 1967 Protocol and it has also failed to enact any legislation for the protection of refugees.

Refugees, adults and children alike, are instead treated as ‘illegal immigrants’ and are subjected to harsh penalties, detention and deportation under the Immigration Act.

They risk fines of up to RM10,000 or jail terms of up to five years or both. They are also liable to be whipped up to six strokes of the cane.

 

NO REFUGE: BURMESE REFUGEES IN MALAYSIA (Photography Exhibition)

NO REFUGE
Burmese Refugees in Malaysia
A photography exhibition

You are cordially invited to
No Refuge Exhibition Opening
Thu 15 Oct, 2009, 8pm
Officiated by YB Charles Santiago, MP for Klang, who will also launch a petition campaign to get the Malaysian Government to recognise refugees and to sign the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees.

Photo by Simon Wheatley

Thu 15 – Sun 25 Oct, 2009
Presented by SUARAM & The Annexe Gallery
Featuring works by Greg Constantine (USA), Halim Berbar (France), Rahman Roslan (Malaysia), Simon Wheatley (UK) & Zhang Wubin (Singapore)

The images of NO REFUGE are photojournalistic documents of the living conditions of a people who are forced to flee to our hospitable country, but have yet to find refuge or hope here.
When one complains about human rights abuses in Malaysia, many Malaysians like to claim that at least we are better off than Burma. That is however not true for Burmese refugees in Malaysia. They may have escaped the horrors of living under the military rule of the junta in Burma, but here in Malaysia they live a life of fear all over again. As Malaysia is not a signatory of the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, Burmese refugees do not have rights in this country. Because of this, they cannot get work (out of desperation, many risk their lives accepting dangerous jobs at construction sites – and many die on these jobs), they have no access to healthcare (many also perish from trying to survive in unhygienic and rough conditions), their children have no access to education, and they are subject to all sorts of inhumane abuses, both by the authorities and other Malaysians.

Forced to hide in crammed apartments or makeshift encampments in forests, the refugees live in constant fear of being detained by the Malaysian police, immigration officers and RELA volunteers. When caught, they are often abused, extorted for money, or sent to overcrowded and unhygienic detention centres. Sometimes they are even sold to human traffickers for ransom or as slave labour or prostitutes. As the deplorable situation of Burmese refugees in Malaysia gains international attention, it’s high time for us to examine the human suffering we are causing.

Parts of the proceeds of the sale of the photographs will be channeled to SUARAM’s campaign to advocate for the rights of refugees.

Photograph by Greg Constantine. This 38-year-old woman fled from Burma and has been living in Malaysia for several years. She was arrested during a RELA raid in Kuala Lumpur in 2006. She spent months in Malaysian jails and detention centers. While incarcerated she became ill but was denied medical care. Eventually, she was taken to the Thai border and deported into the arms of human traffickers. After paying 1500 Malaysian Ringgit to an agent in Thailand, she was smuggled back into Malaysia.

Talk by Photographers and Activists
Sun 18 Oct, 3pm
Come hear the stories, as witnessed and shared by those who document and work with Burmese refugees, of how these already downtrodden peoples are being treated in our country. As one hears the horrific stories of abuse, it is easy to feel ashamed to be Malaysian. But let us also be inspired by acts of compassion and courage. Let’s figure out how we can help those who need our help.

Photograph by Halim Berbar. Due to the ordeal of escaping Burma and living as a refugee in Malaysia, the man in this picture fell into a depression and eventually took his own life.
Click here for more images and information.

 

‘I Worked For Human Traffickers’

Source : RFA

2009-04-29

A Burmese man describes how he was forced to beat other illegal workers by a Malaysian trafficking gang to buy his own freedom.

RFA/Kyaw Min Htun

Ko Wunna, photo taken in Kedah, Malaysia, April 6, 2009.

Ko Wunna is a 28-year-old resident of Burma’s former capital, Rangoon, who was trafficked to Malaysia by gangs importing illegal workers in a constantly revolving racket in which, former participants say, the Malaysian police are also complicit.

Here, Ko Wunna speaks to RFA Burmese service reporter Kyaw Min Htun about his experiences over three months working for a trafficking gang in the region in and around northern Malaysia’s Kedah province, which borders Songkhla and Yala provinces in Thailand. He reveals that illegal migrants who don’t come under the aegis of one gang are vulnerable to worse exploitation by others.

The Malaysian government has recently pledged to investigate claims made by many other Burmese like Ko Wunna.

“I was arrested [by Malaysian immigration authorities] on Nov. 15, 2008 and was sentenced to jail for two months and one stroke of the lash. I was released on Jan. 2, 2009. After I was released from prison, the Thai human traffickers [to whom Ko Wunna says he was then sold by immigration authorities] told me to buy myself ‘back in’ [to work in Malaysia] from the border town of Changlun. But they wanted 2050 ringgit (U.S. $570) to buy myself back in. I couldn’t give them that much money. Those who could pay were able to leave [the trafficking gang].”

“Seven of us were left behind. We told them that we would work our way out. But they would not accept it. They said if we could not pay we would be sold to an Indonesian boat under a five-year plan. What we heard about this five-year plan was that if we were unable to work, they would kill us, beat us to death. We were afraid, so we escaped in the night. The traffickers and their Thai boss chased us. We fled into the forest.”

“In the morning we saw a tea shop and asked for help. The people in the tea shop asked what nationality we were. We told them we were from Burma. They said we should contact the police. We thought about it. The traffickers chasing us had iron rods and were closing in on us. They also had motorcycles and if we crossed the street they would have tried to hit us with their cars. And if we were caught by the Thais we knew we would be dead. So we decided it would be better to be arrested, so we surrendered to the police.”

Police ‘took money from traffickers’

“The police told us to wait while they telephoned their officer in charge. The police told us to sit and wait at the tea shop. While we were waiting the police officer arrived. But it seemed that the police officer and the traffickers had done business in the past, because one of the traffickers came along with the police officer. They told us to get into the car. The police officer himself drove the car while the trafficker sat next to him. They took us to the same place that we had been kept before.”

“After leaving us there, the police left, after receiving 2,000 ringgit from the traffickers. There were four traffickers. They kicked us with their boots. Later three more of them arrived with a gun and a metal chain. They hit us, but not on our faces where the injuries could be seen. They also used knuckle-dusters to hit us on our bodies.”

“After we were caught again, the price [to leave the gang] went up to 3,000 ringgit. They said that if we did not pay the 3,000, the Thai bosses would cut our legs off as an example to the others… I was concerned so I contacted my home, but they were also in a tight situation in terms of money. So I did not ask for help from them again.”

Ordered to beat new arrivals

“There was no way I could pay the money they asked for. So they told me to work for the payment. I agreed and did what they told me to do. After that they did not look after the new arrivals, they just kept them in that big house with just me looking after the new arrivals … The traffickers gave me a phone, a book, and a ball-point pen. I had to register their names, their destination, and the phone numbers the new arrivals were calling. Those who could pay the money were brought forward first.”

“The traffickers first showed me how to deal with the new arrivals. If they could pay 2,500 ringgit they were allowed to make the telephone call. If they could not pay, or if they said they would pay at the end of the month or later, I was told to hit them across their faces. Since they asked me to hit them, I had to do it.”

“It was not easy, as I myself had gone through the same fate in the past. But I had to hit them because if I did not do as I was told they would turn against me. So I had to hit them a bit in front of the trafficker. But after the traffickers had left, I would apologize to the new arrivals. I told them that I would have to hit them, kick them, and treat them roughly in front of the traffickers, but that I was not really like that. And I asked them to understand my situation. They understood, as all of us were Burmese.”

Original reporting in Burmese by Kyaw Min Htun. Burmese service director: Nancy Shwe. Translated by Soe Thinn. Edited for the Web in English by Luisetta Mudie.

 

No inside job, says Immigration

Source : NST

2009/04/27

Suganthi Suparmaniam and Adrian David

addthis_pub = ‘nstonline’

Illegal immigrants use Malaysia as a transit point before moving to a third country, usually the West.

A US Senate foreign relations committee report implicating Malaysian officials in human trafficking at the Thai-Malaysian border has drawn an emphatic denial from the Immigration Department, write SUGANTHI SUPARMANIAM and ADRIAN DAVID

Datuk Mahmood Adam says the Immigration Department is monitoring the situation

EXTORTION. Bribery. Close one eye. These are just some of the allegations directed at Malaysian Immigration officials accused of extorting money from illegal immigrants.

Their Thai counterparts are alleged to ignore human trafficking at the borders.

Immigration director-general Datuk Mahmood Adam has dismissed as baseless the report that his officers are on the take.

He says Malaysian and Thai officials are keeping an eye on human trafficking along their common border.

“Our department is liaising with other enforcement agencies and we have put in place several measures, which I cannot divulge.

“Being a common border, it is an ongoing process to nab the culprits and bust the syndicates involved,” he says, adding that several arrests have been made.

Mahmood says the situation is the same at the country’s borders with Indonesia, Brunei and the Philippines, with enforcement agencies monitoring the situation.

“We conduct scheduled and unscheduled enforcement operations, even in towns and villages, from time to time to weed out the culprits.”

Mahmood says his department has established a task force to look into the issue following allegations in a report by the US Senate foreign relations committee and by Klang member of parliament Charles Santiago as well as non-governmental organisations, including Tenaganita.

“We have been monitoring the situation over the last six months after earlier reports surfaced. But I can assure you that the reports are not true,” he says, reiterating the negative findings by the Home and Foreign Ministries.

Asked if any of his officers are involved in bribes or extortion, Mahmood says so far none has been implicated.

“There is no inside job. Our procedures in deporting illegal immigrants are there.

“We repatriate them once we have established their countries of origin,” he says, adding that the department could otherwise turn them over to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for further action.

A report in the Bangkok Post recently says the allegations are too credible to ignore.

The report interviewed Myanmar immigrants of the Chin, Rohingya, Shan and Mon tribes allegedly fleeced and tortured by Myanmar, Thai and Malaysian enforcement officers, who received a bounty for each arrest.

Some claimed to have paid RM2,000 for safe passage to a third country.

Those who failed to pay were “sold” as slaves, sexually abused or placed in jungle camps.

Children were also not spared.

It was reported that as of January, there were 27,000 Myanmar refugees registered with the UNHCR in Kuala Lumpur, with 30,000 more waiting to be processed.

 

Call for independent probe into human trafficking allegations

Source : NST

Charles Santiago says the Home Ministry’s credibility is at stake

STOP being in denial and investigate the sale of illegal immigrants at the Malaysia-Thailand border to human trafficking syndicates.

Aegile Fernandez says she received calls from illegal migrants

Datuk N. Siva Subramaniam says evidence is missing

Klang member of parliament Charles Santiago and non-governmental organisation Tenaganita, who made the call, urged the government to recognise the issue and set up an independent commission to investigate.

Santiago, who raised the issue in Parliament last year, says the Immigration Department must be transparent and reveal the process of deportation in the wake of accusations by the US Senate that Malaysian officials are involved in human trafficking of illegal immigrants, especially of Myanmar nationals, at the Malaysia-Thailand border.

He also criticised the Home Ministry’s response last year that a special committee formed to investigate the allegations had cleared Immigration officials of the accusations.

“The credibility of the Home Ministry’s committee is at stake now. They have failed. There is a need to set up an independent committee to investigate,” he says, adding that the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suha-kam) can be part of the committee or conduct the investigation.
Santiago says he has personally heard of the ordeal some Myanmar men went through when they were sold at the border and had to pay their traffickers to come back to Malaysia.

Tenaganita Anti-Trafficking in Persons coordinator Aegile Fernandez says the authorities must address the issue quickly.

“This is organised crime and we need an independent commission to investigate, not have co-workers investigate each other,” she says, adding that the United States had came to know of the issue while interviewing refugees who had resettled there.

She says Tenaganita also received calls from immigrants claiming to be at the border and asking for help to come up with the money to pay the traffickers.

“They usually asked bet-ween RM1,500 and RM2,500. In some cases, the traffickers asked the victims to deposit the money into a Malaysian bank account.”

Fernandez, who alleges that Immigration is behind the whole operation, adds: “Who else has access to the detainees at the detention camps and is directly involved in sending them back?”

She says the immigrants are usually taken by lorry to the Thai border at night where men are waiting to take them away.

She says they will be given handphones to call their families and friends to get money for their release. They are usually given a week to get the money, failing which, they will be sold as forced labour or prostitutes.

“We have a case of a woman who was repeatedly raped because her family took a week to send the money.”

Suhakam commissioner Datuk N. Siva Subramaniam says the body has received several such complaints in the past two years.

“The issue has even been raised at international forums but it is difficult to compile the evidence.”

He calls on the authorities to investigate and take action against those responsible.

 

Najib told to act on damning trafficking report

Source : Malaysiakini

Gabrielle Chong | Apr 25, 09 3:39pm

There is mounting pressure for newly-minted Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak to take action in the wake of a damning United States Senate report on human trafficking in Malaysia. New York-based Human Rights Watch has called on Najib “to protect the rights of refugees and victims of human trafficking.” Meanwhile, veteran parliamentarian Lim Kit Siang urged the government to respond to allegations that Malaysian officials are complicit in the human trafficking of refugees. “This is not only most damaging to Malaysia’s international image but raises also grave questions about Malaysia’s human rights commitment in Asean,” said Lim. Two days ago, the US Senate released a report which once again put Malaysia under the spotlight on its long-standing problem of human trafficking. The report was the result of investigations prompted by allegations of the trafficking of thousands of Burmese refugees in Malaysia who were held in detention centres around the country.   They were deported to the Thailand-Malaysia border, where they were extorted for up to RM2,000 each in return for safe journey back to Malaysia.   According to the report, as many as 10 percent of these refugees never made it back to Malaysia because of their inability to pay their ransom and were sold to human peddlers.   The male refugees were mainly sold as slaves into fishing industries, factories, plantations, while the female refugees were either sold as sex or domestic workers. There was no documentation on the fate of children. ‘Most young women deported to the Thai border are sexually abused, even in front of their husbands, by the syndicates, since no one dares to intervene as they would be shot or stabbed to death in the jungle,’’ an NGO worker was quoted by the report. The Senate Committee on Foreign Relations which produced the report, titled ‘Trafficking and Extortion of Burmese Migrants in Malaysia and Southern Thailand’, comprised 18 senators led by former Democrat US presidential candidate John Kerry.   Gov’t officials in cohort with traffickers   In addition, the report cited troubling allegations of Malaysian officials – including Immigration Department officials, police and Ikatan Relawan Rakyat (Rela) officials – colluding with human traffickers for personal gain. “Burmese migrants are reportedly taken by Malaysian government personnel from detention facilities to the Malaysia-Thailand border for deportation. Upon arrival at the Malaysia-Thailand border, human traffickers reportedly take possession of the migrants and issue ransom demands on an individual basis,” said the report. “Migrants state that freedom is possible only once money demands are met. Specific payment procedures are outlined, which reportedly include bank accounts in Kuala Lumpur to which money should be transferred. “The committee was informed that on some occasions, the ‘attendance’ list reviewed by traffickers along the border was identical to the attendance list read prior to departure from the Malaysian detention facilities.”     The matter was of interest to the US because the approximately 40,000 Burmese refugees that have resettled in Malaysia since 1995 came mainly from Malaysia.   Currently, Malaysia has not acceded to both the 1951 Refugee Convention and the 1967 Protocol on Refugee, and does not officially recognise refugees, although the government allows the United Nations High Commissioner (UNHCR) to carry out registration and resettlement of refugees.   The report also criticised Rela for possessing too much power and noted allegations of their aggressive treatment towards refugees, including arresting and detaining refugees regardless of UNHCR documentation.   Under the 2005 Malaysian Securities Regulation, the volunteer corps allows members to arrest and detain suspected illegal immigrants, enter premises without a search warrant, bear firearms and demand documents. First-hand accounts of extortion   The report also quoted first-hand accounts of trafficking and extortion.   One victim recounted how he received threats that he would be beaten, shot and killed if he was unable to pay up his ransom.   Another victim described that he was taken to Thailand-Malaysia border twice by Malaysian immigration officials and forced to pay RM3,000 for his release on both occasions. “When we arrived at the Thai border, it was already dark. The Thai agents were already there when we arrived at the border river bank. The agents took us to Thailand by boat. The city we arrived in was [deleted]. We were there for about a week. The Thai agent gave us very bad meals, they fed us twice a day. “They asked us to contact our friends and family who live in Kuala Lumpur. My friend sent RM1,500 to Hat Yai from Kuala Lumpur by [deleted] Bank. After they received the money, I was sent back to Kuala Lumpur. After a week, I was arrested again and sent to the Thai border again.’’ One was told that inability to pay ransom would result in him being sold to Thai agents to work in the sea as a fisherman without pay.   Many others noted that they were returned to Malaysia after their friends in Kuala Lumpur paid up their ransom.   Nevertheless, the committee credited the Malaysian government for allowing UNHCR to carry out refugee protection and assistance activities since 1975.   The report also revealed that on April 1, police chief Musa Hassan announced that the police has started investigations on allegations of extortion and human trafficking of Burmese refugees. Recommendations for Malaysia   In its list of recommendations, the report suggested that relevant governments and organisations request for financial compensation from Burma’s military junta for costs incurred in caring for refugees.   Government, police and anti-corruption officials were also implored to address the trafficking selling and slavery of refugees, assist victims of trafficking within the country.   In addition, they were encouraged to consider alternatives to detention for refugees and asylum seekers, especially women and children.   Lastly, the report appealed for unhindered access for UNHCR officials to all facilities within the country where refugees are detained so that they may carry out registration work, and for the abolishment of Rela.   As of now, there are approximately 87,000 Burmese refugees in Malaysia who fled Burma because of ethnic and political persecution by the military junta.   Of these, only 57,000 are registered, with the majority being Chins (25,000) and Rohingya Muslims (16,000), and the remainders including ethnic Arakanese, Kachin, Karen, Shan and Mon. However, despite the release of the scathing report, the authorities have not let up on their effort to round up refugees. “The Malaysian authorities rounded up and detained some 300 migrants, including small children, during raids in the Imbi neighborhood of Kuala Lumpur late Wednesday night,” lamented advocacy officer Amy Alexander from California-based Chin Human Rights Organization. Kennedy Lal Ram Lian, coordinator of the Chin Refugee Centre in Kuala Lumpur, said: “No one has been released – not even UNHCR card holders. More than 10 Chin detainees are UNHCR-recognised refugees awaiting resettlement to a third country. If they are deported to the border, they are at risk of being sold to traffickers.” Government in denial Meanwhile, opposition parliamentarian Lim has sought a meeting with government leaders to discuss the controversy. “The Malaysian Parliamentary Caucus on Myanmar will convene a meeting on the (US Senate) report and seek a meeting with Najib and the new foreign minister, Anifah Aman.” However, his parliamentary colleague Charles Santiago (right) is pessimistic that action would be taken. “Instead of acting on these recommendations … ministers would categorically deny the report, rubbishing it as an attempt to discredit the government,” predicted the Klang MP from DAP. After all, former home minister Syed Hamid Albar had denied such claims before. “I take offence with the allegation because neither the Malaysian government nor its officials make money by selling people,” he was quoted to have said. Santiago said he had repeatedly raised the issue in Parliament. “They would sing the same rhetoric of having carried out an investigation on the immigration officers and found them to be squeaky clean.” The MP nevertheless called on new Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein to open a new investigation on the matter.

 

US Senate ‘Trafficking of Burmese Migrants’ Report Holds Malaysia and ASEAN Responsible and Demands Immediate Action

Press Statement by Member of Parliament Klang Charles Santiago in Klang on 24th April 2009

Richard Lugar the US Ranking Minority Member in a report entitled ‘Trafficking and Extortion of Burmese Migrants in Malaysia and Southern Thailand’ submitted to the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee on 3^rd April, 2009 notes that Burmese migrants in Malaysia are victims of extortion and human trafficking in Malaysia and Southern Thailand.

The report suggests that Malaysian authorities are in cohorts with human traffickers in Southern Thailand:

“Burmese migrants are reportedly taken by Malaysian Government personnel from detention facilities to the Malaysia-Thailand border for deportation. Upon arrival at the Malaysia-Thailand border, human traffickers reportedly take possession of the migrants and issue ransom demands on an individual basis. Migrants state that freedom is possible only once money demands are met. Specific payment procedures are outlined, which reportedly include bank accounts in Kuala Lumpur to which money should be transferred. The committee was informed that on some occasions, the ”attendance” list reviewed by traffickers along the border was identical to the attendance list read prior to departure from the Malaysian detention facilities.

Migrants state that those unable to pay are turned over to human peddlers in Thailand, representing a variety of business interests ranging from fishing boats to brothels.

The committee has received numerous reports of sexual assaults against Burmese women by human traffickers along the border. One NGO official states that ”Most young women deported to the Thai border are sexually abused, even in front of their husbands, by the syndicates, since no one dares to intervene as they would be shot or stabbed to death in the jungle”

The Senate report further notes:

“Statements are continuing to come to the committee from Burmese and other migrants who were taken to the Thailand-Malaysia border and threatened with violence, or being handed over to human traffickers unless extortion demands were met. Details provided to the committee by Burmese refugees to the United States include names of persons to whom payments are allegedly made; payment locations in Malaysia and Thailand; bank account numbers to which extortion payments are deposited; locations along the Thailand-Malaysia border where migrants are reportedly taken by Malaysian officials; and the identification of persons allegedly involved in the trafficking of migrants and refugees”.

The report notes that Burmese refugees and migrants are whipped and tortured while in detention.

The Lugar report does not come as a shock even though it is upsetting.

Local television channel, NTV7, created an uproar in the country last year with their ‘Refugee for Sale’ documentary, outlining the plight of the Burmese who flee into Malaysia, fearing persecution from the military junta and end up being victims in lucrative sales deals between immigration officers and their clients at the Malaysia-Thailand border.

Those who cannot buy their freedom are sold off to the fishing boats or brothels. The US Senate report corroborates this fact.

It specifically states the nitty gritty details of the sales of helpless refugees, the need for affirmative action to stop these sales, the role of ASEAN and international communities in protecting refugees and the urgency for the ratification of the Refugees Convention, the 1967 Protocol on Refugees and include this issue in human rights dialogues within ASEAN member countries.

Instead of acting upon these recommendations, I am clear about the potential response from the Kuala Lumpur government – ministers would categorically deny the report, rubbishing it as an attempt to discredit the government.

Former Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar denied claims that thousands of illegal foreigners held at detention centers were ”being sold off” to human trafficking syndicates. ‘I take offence with the allegation because neither the Malaysian Government nor its officials make money by selling people.’

Or they would sing the same rhetoric of having carried out an investigation on the immigration officers and found them to be squeaky clean.

I have repeatedly raised this issue in Parliament and the reply from the then Home Minister was predictable: no truth in the trafficking allegation.

The Ministry’s committee to investigate the NTV 7 documentary alleging government officials involvement in trafficking did not even interview the producer as part of its investigation. So much for a thorough and credible investigation.

Let’s get this straight. The refugees are not coming to Malaysia seeking better economic opportunities. They simply have no choice. They run into Malaysia, leaving behind families and children, to stay alive.

Their woes do not stop once they get to Malaysia. Here they are hunted down like animals by RELA, a bully group consisting of citizens who turn ad-hoc policemen.

Their refugee cards issued by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees or UNHCR is useless as Malaysia does not recognise their refugee status. Therefore the refugees are trapped in a situation where they cannot work and are constantly under the threat of being arrested by immigration and RELA officers.

But the government is only interested in business transactions with the military junta. Malaysian state oil company, Petronas, does business amounting to millions of US dollars with Burma.

ASEAN, on the other hand, pretend they are limousine liberals while in reality, turn a blind eye to the gross violations of human rights by the military. Instead, the leaders shake hands and exchange diplomatic niceties with the Burmese army officers during ASEAN meetings.

The 10-member bloc’s non-interference policy further cushions the Burmese military from the need to be accountable to the killings and disappearances of hundreds of thousands of Rohingyas, Karens, Chins and other minority clans.

I call upon the newly minted Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishamuddin Tun Hussein to open a new investigation on the matter and consider the 10 proposal of the Lugar report including implementation the country’s Anti-trafficking Law, ASEAN’s Declaration on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers and the immediate ratification of the UN 1967 Refugee Convention – with a view to protect and promote the rights of migrants and refugees in the country and region.

Charles Santiago

Member of Parliament, Klang

Vice Chairman of Selangor DAP

016-626 7797

 

Minister rejects human trafficking claims

Source : Malaysiakini

Jan 19, 09 6:29pm

Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar today acknowledged that many Burmese nationals have entered this country via the Malaysia-Thai border but denied that there is human trafficking.

Certain quarters had alleged that human trafficking activities involving Burmese nationals were going on in this country although they could not prove that they existed, he told reporters.

“Where did these foreigners get their information? They assume that they know more than we do. 

“If there is proof, action can be taken. Don’t make wild accusations,” he was quoted as saying by Bernama.

The minister said the authorities in this country must always cooperate with their counterparts in the neighbouring country to ensure that there is no incursion by foreigners into this country while illegal immigrants should be repatriated.

“We have to see how they enter the country. If there is a jetty at Bukit Batu Puteh (in Perlis), we can solve a lot of problems. Some people smuggle in goods while some smuggle in human beings,” he said.

Syed Hamid said a jetty was needed to enable the Malaysian security forces to carry out more effective patrols in Bukit Batu Puteh, a coastal area near the border.

‘Refugees for sale’

The United States Senate is currently probing a ‘refugees for sale’ scam in which Malaysian immigration officials have been implicated.

Last week, opposition MP Charles Santiago called on the government not to brush aside this allegation.

Previously, said Santiago, the home minister had responded in ‘typical fashion’ in Parliament on the matter by announcing the formation of a special committee to investigate the claims.

As predicted, it was “found” that immigration officials were not involved in trafficking of the Burmese or other refugees.

This came despite testimonials to the contrary from numerous migrant rights’ non-governmental organisations as well as the victims themselves.

“Either Syed Hamid is naive enough to buy the story dished out by the Immigration Department, which had set-up a special team to investigate its own officers or he is desperate to ensure Malaysia does not receive bad press worldwide,” Santiago told Malaysiakini.

 

Refugee for Sale Press conference

Date : 5 Nov 2008, Time : 1130am

Venue : Parliament lobby

Participants : Aegile Fernandez (Anti trafficking coordinator, tenaganita), Alice Nah (Migrant Working Group coordinator) and me.