29 June 2022

Press Statement by MCA Youth Civil Society Movement Coordination Bureau Chairperson Heng Zhi Li

Home Minister Must Apologise for Flippant Remarks on Deaths in Immigration Depots

It was reported last evening that Home Minister Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainuddin said people should not blame the Immigration Department for deaths in immigration detention centres before chillingly asserting that it should not had been an issue because “sometimes people die even while walking. They don’t even have to be in a depot.”

His remarks dishonour Malaysia’s recent achievement of getting elected into the United Nations Human Right Council for the 2022-2024 term. Laying to heart Prime Minister Dato’ Sri Ismail Sabri’s pledge to commit to the agenda of advancing global human rights, MCA Youth urges him to pressure Datuk Seri Hamzah to issue a public apology for his callous approach to the worrying number of deaths in detention centres.

In addition to a public apology, MCA Youth calls for the Home Ministry to take more seriously the health, safety and wellbeing of detainees in the custody of the Immigration Department. The Cabinet must also form an independent task force to assess and look into the conditions of detention facilities over rising concerns of potential inhumane treatments behind closed-gates.

In its report titled “Like In Hell: Conditions at Immigration Detention Centres in Sabah, Malaysia”, the Coalition of Sovereign Migrant Workers (KBMB) claimed that at least 149 Indonesians had perished in the past 18 months, as a result of gross mistreatment, malign neglect and violence in our immigration depots. 

The report also alleged that up to 260 detainees, including children, were cramped into windowless cells, the size of a badminton court and equipped with just three toilet holes.
 
Under the UN Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment (1988), no person under any form of detention or imprisonment shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

MCA Youth is of the view that the Immigration Department’s fundamental responsibilities exceed that of a warden — they also take on the roles as custodians and caretakers of those under their charge. All detainees must be allocated proper welfare and respect on account of inherent human dignity.

Heng Zhi Li
MCA Youth Civil Society Movement Coordination Bureau Chairperson

-MCA Online-