Admit security failures over death camps, PKR tells top cop

A human trafficking camp in Wang Kelian, Perlis. PKR says Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar must own up to his responsibility in failing to ensure the security of the border from human traffickers and smugglers. – The Malaysian Insider pic by Hasnoor Hussain, May 29, 2015.

Poor and corrupt law enforcement practices are why human traffickers have enjoyed easy access across Malaysian borders without fear of being arrested, a PKR lawmaker said in the wake of the discovery of mass graves and human trafficking camps in Perlis.

Alor Setar MP Gooi Hsiao Leung (pic, right) asked when the inspector-general of police would own up to the failure of security forces in securing Malaysia's borders from human traffickers and smugglers.

Gooi said although Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar said that the police had not known of the death camps until May, the IGP had admitted that everyone knew of the human trafficking activities that were rampant along the borders.

The PKR supreme council member added that non-governmental organisations had long maintained that trafficking victims had reported to the police about being held captive in such camps along the borders.

Gooi asked if these allegations had been investigated by the police and  how many arrests had been made.

Earlier this month, the Home Ministry denied reports on the existence of holding camps and mass graves of illegal ethnic Rohingya migrants on the Malaysian side of its border with Thailand.

Its secretary-general Datuk Alwi Ibrahim said investigations carried out by the police had found no such camps or graves in Malaysia.

After the discovery of "death camps" in southern Thailand, there were news reports saying that there might be similar slave camps housing illegal immigrants on the Malaysian side of the border.

More than 1.3 million Rohingya – viewed by the United Nations as one of the world's most persecuted minorities – live in Myanmar's western Rakhine state.

Fleeing persecution, these refugees usually make their way to Malaysia on rickety boats via people smugglers.

After coming under fire for turning away refugees adrift at sea after being abandoned by the smugglers following a crackdown by Thai police on normal smuggling routes, Malaysia together with Indonesia on May 20 announced that they would no longer turn away the boat people.

Gooi said in a statement today that Khalid was missing the point of the issue, asking how the death camps had operated without being noticed if the police had known all along of the widespread human trafficking activities in the area.

He added that in the IGP's own words, some of the camps might have been there since 2013.

Gooi further said that the camps that were discovered were large, with makeshift kitchens, water tanks, fencing and sentry posts.

In addition, he said, hundreds of graves were discovered, with 28 camps found along the border.

"Just based on the sheer size and number of trafficking camps discovered so far, it would be totally unbelievable that the human traffickers could have operated along our borders without help or collusion with corrupt local law enforcement officials, such as the police, immigration or military tasked with securing our borders.

"The IGP cannot just wash his hands of these immediate questions by blaming difficult terrain as an excuse for not knowing about the human trafficking camps operating along our borders," he said.

- TMI