Health DG refutes ‘discrimination against migrants’ claims

CORONAVIRUS | Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah has stressed that undocumented migrants were treated fairly by the authorities during the Covid-19 pandemic.

This comes after Putrajaya accused Al Jazeera of misinformation over a critical report on the arrest and detention of migrants in Malaysia’s handling of the outbreak.  

During a media briefing this evening, Noor Hisham (above) denied any discrimination against undocumented migrants during testing, quarantine and treatment procedures.

Illustrating his point, he said the government had conducted free Covid-19 tests for everyone and further provided meals to migrants.

If any migrants tested positive while inside detention centres, they were brought to a purpose-built temporary hospital in Maeps, Serdang.

“We treat them equally in our hospitals [...] the government spent millions of ringgit to build the temporary hospital to treat patients from that (immigration detention) centre.

“This is the initiative [sic] we have done and we have been fair. There was no discrimination when we did the enhanced movement control order [...] when we come down to the area, whoever you are local, foreign, legal or illegal - all will be tested,” he said.

Noor Hisham also defended the authorities’ move to detain undocumented migrants during the pandemic, contending that this had helped “contain” the eventual Covid-19 outbreaks seen in immigration detention centres. 

“Can you imagine the outbreak (if there were) 277 cases in the community rather than in the detention centre?

“Today, in the detention centre, we already managed to control the spread.

“But if it was 277 cases in the community, they would have actually spread Covid-19 to other people,” he said.

Following raids on migrants, the country saw its sharpest spike in cases - 277 cases in one day - and new clusters at five such detention centres.

This led several UN experts to urge Putrajaya to halt its crackdown on migrants while human rights groups cautioned that the lack of social distancing in immigration detention centres could make them hotbeds for Covid-19.

More than 700 immigration detainees have since tested positive, including a four-year-old boy who was found to be infected when tested as a final condition for deportation.

The top official, however, sidestepped repeated questions on the source of infection of these clusters and whether detainees had been infected inside immigration detention centres.

Instead, he pointed to cramped living conditions as a factor for the higher rate of Covid-19 among migrant workers.

Aired on July 3 as part of its 101 East programme, Al Jazeera’s “Locked Up in Malaysia’s Lockdown” investigative documentary highlighted the manner in which migrants were detained plus the cramped conditions they live in.

It also questioned if the crackdown was a “practical reality of dealing with the pandemic” or “racism”.

Since its airing, ministers and netizens have taken to social media to call out the alleged misrepresentation of facts in the report.

The police have since begun investigating the Qatar-based global news organisation and its journalists for its reporting. 

Immigration, meanwhile, has announced it is searching for a Bangladeshi national who was featured in the Al Jazeera report.  - Mkini