The Malaysian Insight

HOME Minister Saifuddin Nasution urged the public not to presume that illegal immigrants were ill-treated by immigration department personnel, after a video clip and pictures of emaciated men – allegedly detainees at the Kimanis immigration depot in Sabah – went viral yesterday. 

He said it was not right to blame the authorities before investigating the matter. 

“Firstly, let’s look at the subject, whether he is an ordinary citizen who practices a healthy lifestyle. 

“Then does he also follow or was he involved in unhealthy activities that caused his physical condition to be skinny? That weight loss is not because he was detained, it probably happened before he was detained,” he said after a briefing at the immigration department headquarters today. 

He added that the Immigration Department did periodic checks on its detention centres nationwide. 

In the video clip, an emaciated man identifying himself as Salomon appealed to Sabah chief minister Hajiji Noor and state immigration director Sitti Saleha Habib Yusoff to be released. 

Both video clip and photos were viralled by a Facebook account holder named Datz Ganang.   

“I am here for a year. There are some who have been here for two to three years. How long are we to be detained here? 

“We are not given sufficient food and drinks and it has left us thin. Some have developed rashes and when we ask for medicine we are ignored,” said Salomon. – December 9, 2022.