The Malaysian Insight

HUMAN rights activists have told Putrajaya not to use the imminent national lockdown to crack down on undocumented migrants.

They said the events of the past year had shown that it was dangerous during the current pandemic to put people in detention and pointed to the large number of clusters at immigration depots last year. 

They said any move to detain undocumented migrants will only derail the drive to immunise this group. 

Yesterday, Home Minister Hamzah Zainuddin said the Immigration Department will be conducting operations to detain undocumented migrants during the two-week lockdown, which begins on Tuesday. 

He said the department will be holding these operations with the National Registration Department and police, adding that the Prisons Department is ready to allocate additional detention centres for those who might get arrested. 

“It’s true that last time our prisons had reached beyond their capacity. But now we’re ready. We have satellite prisons and detention centres prepared. 

“If there are still people who are stubborn, I mean foreigners, we will detain them,” said Hamzah. 

Tenaganita executive director Glorene Das said rounding up undocumented migrants was dehumanising.

“This will contribute to the rise in cases. This would increase the burden on the already overloaded healthcare system,” she said, pointing to the large number of clusters at detention centres last year. 

“When we are grappling with such serious health pandemic situation in the country and trying very hard to implement the national immunisation programme proposed for all, the Home Ministry destroys it with its crackdown operations,” she said. 

Mahi Ramakrishnan, founder of Beyond Borders Malaysia, said the government must instead be focused on getting everyone vaccinated including refugees, migrant workers and stateless persons.  

“Home Minister Hamzah Zainuddin must immediately revoke this order or it would be a state-sponsored act of violence against a vulnerable population. 

“If anything this pandemic should have taught the government about the need for a comprehensive healthcare policy that embraces everyone who makes up our society, irrespective of their immigration status.  

She said the move was a step back as activists and community leaders had worked hard last year to convince refugees and migrant workers to get tested for Covid-19. 

“They were afraid but the assurance by the government came in handy,” she said. 

She questioned how activists are going to convince refugees and migrant workers to come and get vaccinated. 

Hasan Al-Akraa, founder of the Al-Hasan Volunteer Network, said people have to understand these migrants and refugees are just as concerned and worried about the pandemic as everyone else in the country. 

“Authorities have already broken their promise during the first movement-control order whereby they still detained migrants and refugees despite promising them they won’t be detained when they step forward for the Covid-19 swab test. 

“I was in a detention centre when I was 14 years’ old and I know how it feels to be stuck in a small cell with about 25 other detainees,” he said. 

He also said instead of going after the vulnerable groups, the government should focus on how to help the thousands of families – both Malaysians and non-Malaysians – who will need aid during the lockdown. 

According to him, with the recent news about the mass arrest of undocumented migrants, many of them will be scared to go for their vaccination and this will only burden the healthcare workers.

In a tweet yesterday, Amnesty International Malaysia said that between January and June last year there were 23 persons, including two children, who died in immigration detention centres.

The tweet also stated that “hunting down” migrants is always terrible, but in this context, it’s especially vicious. – May 30, 2021.