The Malaysian Insight

SIMON Momoh, who spent 40 days in an Immigration detention centre has one piece of advice for foreigners in Malaysia: always obey the law.

The Nigerian, who was first arrested for drink driving, saw himself subsequently detained at Semenyih Immigration Detention Centre and faced deportation after his spousal visa was cancelled.

Speaking to The Malaysian Insight, Momoh recalled his experience and said he would not have been able to get through it if not for his Malaysian wife, Low Kar Hui.

“God gives his toughest battles to his strongest soldiers, and my wife is strong,” Momoh said.

“I’m happy to have her in my life and our faith keeps us going.

“While the beginning of this (drink driving) was my fault and the authorities were trying to enforce the law, in detention I felt like I was in prison.

“My advice to foreigners is to always be aware (of the law), the country is not soft.”

Low was not able to see Momoh for close to a month while he was detained.

Recalling this, Momoh said he thought his wife was leaving him.

“She didn’t come to see me at all for more than a month and all kinds of negative thoughts were in my head. I thought she was leaving me.

“There were two other Nigerians in detention with me who also had children here and their families never came for them. So, I had all these thoughts,” Momoh said.

He later on found out that Low had not visited because she was worried that Immigration officials would force her to buy her husband a one-way ticket back to Nigeria.

In March 2021, Momoh pleaded guilty to drink-driving, and was sentenced to one day in jail and fined RM12,000.

He paid the fine but was subsequently arrested by Immigration after his release. His visa, which was valid until October 14, 2022, was cancelled.

He was detained at Semenyih Immigration Detention Centre and released 40 days later on April 23.

He subsequently filed for a judicial review on April 20.

More than one year after his ordeal started, in June this year, Shah Alam High Court revoked the visa cancellation and deportation order.

Judge Shahnaz Sulaiman said in her ruling that Momoh was not a person liable for removal and that the Immigration Department director-general cannot penalise an individual who has not committed an offence under Section 56 of the Immigration Act 1959/63.

Momoh first came to Malaysia in 2009 as a student. He has lived here ever since and has been married to Low for nine years.

The couple have two daughters, Divine and Elisha, aged nine and six respectively. Both are Malaysians.

After the High Court decision, Momoh’s spousal pass was reinstated and is now valid for six months until January next year.

The time frame for the government to appeal the court’s decision has also lapsed, giving Momoh and his family relief.

“We finally feel more secure and settled,” Low said.

“We can finally plan what we want to do. Before this, we had to put everything on hold.”

Discrimination

Momoh said he was put through the ordeal because of discrimination.

“It is obvious I was treated that way because I am not Malaysian.

“While I don’t face discrimination very often (in this country), I’ve got used to it.

“It’s not just me who faces it, but also my wife, so I talk to her about it,” Momoh said.

While her husband was detained, Low said she had read all the negative comments about them.

“I read all the criticisms, and I was depressed. Luckily, I had a good friend to talk to,” Low said.

Given how long the couple have been together, Low said discrimination was not something new.

“My own family took years before they accepted him,” she said.

The two of them aside, Low is also concerned about her children, because they look different, they are sometimes left out by others.

“They are aware of racism and discrimination, people criticise them for their skin colour and their hair.

“Divine has a harder time because she is darker, but Elisha is fairer so there is not much problem.

“They both go to Chinese school and they can speak Mandarin very well, I think that makes a difference,” Low said, adding that while their father was in detention, she told them the entire story.

“They are very close to him, they can talk about anything for hours on end.

“When Simon was in detention, they had to be independent, they behaved very well so as to not stress me,” Low said.

Momoh, who runs a small business, is in charge of looking after the children, especially when Low is away at work.

“When I was finally released, the girls didn’t leave my side for days. For four days they slept next to me to make sure that I was really there,” Momoh said.

His case is not the only one of its kind.

Family Frontiers, a group representing non-Malaysian spouses, said there are other cases like that of Momoh, where foreign spouses are in detention for minor offences or for reasons totally unrelated to Immigration law.

The group said the authorities also don’t seem to be selective about who they detain, as there are detainees of various races and cultures.

The group detailed a case involving a Vietnamese woman, married to a Malaysian, who was detained on a 14-day remand to verify her documents.

In another instance, white man had accidentally walked out of a supermarket with a trolley of goods to look for his Malaysian wife – who held the credit card needed to pay for the items – and was detained for shoplifting, even though the wife returned and tried to pay for the items.

The group said there was a need for the government to promote better understanding, tolerance and mutual respect towards non-citizen spouses.

“The number of binational families in Malaysia is growing as part of a globalised world, making it necessary for Malaysian law and governance to account for these families, in order to protect and strengthen the family unit, which is the backbone of society.

“Spouses are here for the long haul and want to provide for their families and contribute towards the country.

“There is a vital need to ensure fair treatment and respect for these spouses, who are a part of our society and family,” the group said. – July 21, 2022.