PSM has urged the authorities to temporary release a Myanmar asylum seeker, who was paralysed from the neck down after a road accident in Taiping, Perak last Tuesday, so that he can recuperate at a care home.
PSM deputy president S Arutchelvan (above) told Malaysiakini on Friday that the police and Immigration Department should consider not taking action against the 21-year-old rubber tapper until he is well.
"The fate of a Myanmar migrant worker who suffered from serious spinal cord injury due to a road accident lies in the hands of the Immigration Department.
"Rendered a quadriplegic, paralysed from the neck down, he is lying on a bed at the Gerik police station while the police await directives from the Immigration Department," he said.
According to Arutchelvan, after the accident on Dec 1, the police had sent the Myanmar worker to the Taiping hospital where the Myanmar community had paid for his admission and treatment.
After that, he was released back into police custody, he said.
A United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) document confirmed the 21-year-old is an asylum seeker who had applied for refugee status with the refugee organisation, he added.
"So far a care centre has agreed to accept and care for him until he is able to go home but police haven’t received the go-ahead from the Immigration Department.
"We are asking for a little flexibility, and respect for human and health rights of undocumented migrant workers caught in situations like this.
"We ask the Immigration Department to urgently release him to the care home so that he can get the care and support that he needs in his current condition," he said.
Arutchelvan, who is dealing with the investigating officer from the Gerik police station, said the matter of the Myanmar national is technically under immigration.
"Police are only holding him from Dec 3 and he is expected to be sent to immigration after his Covid-19 test result is out on Dec 7," he said.
It is understood that the asylum seeker was a pillion passenger on a motorcycle when he fell and sustained injuries in the road accident. The police have arrested the rider, who is also an undocumented worker from Myanmar.
Confirming this, Gerik district police chief Zulkifli Mahmood told Malaysiakini the police have decided not to take further action against the undocumented worker under the Immigration Act due to his health condition.
"We referred the case to the deputy public prosecutor and we decided not to charge him. As such, we will hand over the man to the Immigration Department," he said.
Zulkifli added that it was not within police powers to decide on a detainee's deportation.
"Immigration will decide on how to take care of him or if it will deport the man."
He said the police have taken care of the victim with the help of his friend, who was also in police detention, pending their Covid-19 test result which is needed before they can be transferred to immigration.
"We sympathise (with his condition). I have personally instructed my men to help him and provide him with food," he added.
Zulkifli advised PSM, the Myanmar community, and NGOs to further deal with the Immigration Department on the matter. - Mkini
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