MACC plays 'dirty' with Tenaganita's Irene: What dark deeds is the Home Minister hiding

Irene Fernandez, Executive Director of Tenaganita, accompanied by her lawyer, Fadiah Nadwa Fikri, was interviewed by the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC) for approximately ninety minutes today.

To our surprise, Irene and her lawyer were informed by Senior MACC Officer Premraj Isaac Dawson and his colleague that instead of just an interview, the MACC process today would consist of three parts:

First Irene would be interviewed on the press articles that appeared in the local dailies on May 8th, 2012; then she would be required to lodge a report with the MACC; following which she will be questioned by the MACC on that report without the presence of her lawyer. If the lawyer insisted on being present, the lawyer will then be asked to sign a ‘witness statement’.

Why so secretive

In neither the letter from MACC requesting Irene’s presence (dated 8th May 2012) nor in the quote by MACC Director of Investigations Datuk Mustafar Ali in today’s The Star, was there any indication that this was MACC’s actual agenda for the day. If the MACC had predetermined that these were the 3 stages, why were they not open and transparent in their letter to Tenaganita?

We therefore objected to participating in this 3-part process, as we had come with the understanding that it would merely be an interview with Irene. Fadiah also made it clear that denying the presence of a lawyer during the next stage of questioning would be a violation of Irene’s right to be represented as guaranteed in the Federal Constitution, as well as a violation of the rights of the lawyer to represent as spelled out in the Legal Profession Act.

Furthermore, instructing Irene’s lawyer to sign a witness statement if she remained present during the questioning of the report would effectively mean that the lawyer (who would then be a “witness”) would no longer be able to represent Irene in court (should the case be taken there).

Irene therefore only agreed to provide information pertaining to corruption and migration, and not to participation in the next two stages. After consultations with his superiors, the Senior MACC officer proceeded to obtain that information from Irene.

6 main points

The main six points raised by Tenaganita during today’s MACC interview pertained to the following:

The first two points relate to two specific cases that reflect collusion between employers and the police: they are the current court case involving GSS News Agency which was taken up by the Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) with Tenaganita’s support and the failed rescue of suspected survivors of sex trafficking in Seremban.

The next issue raised was in relation to reports by migrant workers to Tenaganita that they are verbally and physically threatened, assaulted and extorted by enforcement officers, including RELA personnel, when they fail to produce their identity documents, which are typically held by their employers.

The identity tags that enforcement officers are required to wear will typically be hidden by a jacket during these instances, and migrants who have asked for the names/IDs of the officers are then subjected to various forms of violence. As a consequence, evidence collecting is impossible as migrants are unable to identify these specific officers.

In relation to that, the MACC was informed that the practice of employers holding on to the passports of migrants placed them in vulnerable positions, as their de facto “undocumented status” made them easy prey for enforcement officers (and others) who were looking to extort migrants.

Irene then informed the MACC that in 2007 and 2008, when the Malaysian government approved the recruitment of migrants from Bangladesh through “outsourcing”, thousands of migrants were left stranded at KLIA without work or legal status.

Tenaganita subsequently held consultations with the Ministries of Home Affairs and Human Resources on the cheating and exploitation of these workers, and the corruption in the system. To date, the State has not acted on the information given by Tenaganita. Instead, in 2011 amendments to the Employment Act were made, changing the definition of “employers” to include “outsourcing companies”.

The final point was in regards to the 6P programme and the approximately 1 million undocumented migrants who had gone through the legalization process (most of whom have paid agents) but who continue to remain undocumented and in fear of arrest, detention, whipping (if they are male) and deportation.

6P programme and the IPCMC

Tenaganita also highlighted that calls made for oversight mechanisms into the 6P programme, especially in regards to the 340 government-approved agents for the 6P, have not been acted upon by the State, thereby facilitating a fertile environment for corruption.

In addition to these six points, Tenaganita stated that there was sufficient information through numerous reports by Tenaganita, as well as other national and international organizations that depict the lived realities of migrants in Malaysia and the weaknesses in the system that facilitate exploitation of migrants and corruption.

The MACC should therefore be proactive in carrying out independent investigations into corruption in the system and develop indicators to identify corruption in migration practices and policies, instead of merely waiting for individual case reports to be filed before they react. Tenaganita also proposed that the MACC look critically at the links between corruption and human trafficking.

Additionally, it is vital that the MACC propose and support the development of mechanisms to enable increased transparency and good governance. The MACC should, for example, have supported the proposal by Royal Commission of Inquiry on the police for the establishment of the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC), despite objections by the ruling government. It should be the MACC’s mandate to ensure that corruption is tackled holistically and that government officials who are corrupt should be held accountable.

Based on the information provided to MACC today, Tenaganita hopes that the MACC will be proactive and independent in their investigations, and address the areas where corruption exists. Doing so would pave the way for increased protection of the rights and lives of migrants in Malaysia. Malaysia has a role in ensuring safe migration, and the MACC is a pivotal player in this process.

Glorene A Das is the Program Director, Tenaganita