Suspected sex workers marked with crosses and ticks on forehead, chest

If ever Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard needs further proof of Malaysia's dubious human rights records, this is it. Thirty foreign workers mostly from China were not only nabbed in a vice raid, they were chained and had cross and tick marks etched on their foreheads and upper-chest regions.

While not refugees in any way, these women were clearly victims or part of a people-trafficking trade, said outraged activists, adding that the women were still entitled to basic human rights, even if they were sex workers.

They slammed the Malaysian police for abusing their power and ignoring convention.

Unbelievable

In Penang, where the swoop took place, and also in the rest of the nation, disbelief is humming but the authorities remain defiant, refusing to admit that they may have over-reacted.

Even as the federal authorities try to damage-control, speculation is rife that the humiliation, unusually high-handed even by local standards, was intentional. This is the first known case where the police have sensationalised their 'catch' in such a manner.

Still shaking their heads over the incident, many Penangites believe it was the latest incident aimed to discredit the Chinese community and the Pakatan Rakyat state government led by Lim Guan Eng.

In the past 3 years since taking over the state from Prime Minister Najib Razak's ruling BN coalition, Penang Pakatan has been the target of a slew of attacks to show up Lim as a chauvinist Chinese leader, who was uncaring about Muslim lifestyles and whose administration condoned immorality.

"We will demand full investigation by the police. Until they clarify, we can only note that the PAS annual congress has just begun. We warn UMNO and any other party not to overplay their religious credentials in this sort of despicable way. It only creates racial tensions and tarnishes Malaysia's international image," PKR vice president Tian Chua told Malaysia Chronicle.

Bukit Aman involved in Penang raid

In a late-night raid at a high-end nightclub in Pulau Tikus, 8 Malaysian men and 30 foreign women were arrested by a team of 19 police officers from Bukit Aman. Of the 30 women, 29 were from China and one from Vietnam.

According to the Chinese newspapers, the officers from Bukit Aman had spent a week going undercover at the club. The women were chained up in groups and had their foreheads and upper-chest regions marked with either crosses or ticks as a form of identification.

This is in sharp contrast to past practice where identification marks were made only on the hands of detainees.

“You do not physically mark them. You can detain them but you cannot mark them,” Malaysiakini reported Bar Council Human Rights Committee chairman Andrew Khoo as saying.

In the international eye

Australia and Malaysia are in the final lap of a swap agreement, which will see up to 800 new boat arrivals to Australia relocated to Malaysia for processing, in return for Canberra resettling 4,000 Malaysian refugees who have already been 'processed' under UNHCR standards.

The deal is worth A$300million to Malaysians but activists from both nations have condemned deal, accusing Gillard of double standards and shirking the 1951 Refugee Convention. Activist groups have also slammed Malaysia's poor record for human rights and below-standard refugee camps.

"We've had cases of custodial deaths, we have cases of untold numbers of arbitrary arrests and detention. And even those with UNHCR cards are not spared, because in Malaysia there is no law that provides protection for refugee communities and asylum-seekers seeking refugee status. Instead, they're blanketted under the Immigration Act, 1959, and are deemed as illegal immigrants. So, they are punished for not having documents and they're punished for coming in with an irregular and undocumented status," SUARAM director Cynthia Gabriel had told an Austrial radio station.

- Malaysia Chronicle