On migrants, mistreatment and Malaysia

In recent days, there have been talks about the Al Jazeera documentary detailing the alleged abuse of migrant workers and refugees by the Malaysian authorities during the Covid-19 movement control order (MCO).

Should Al Jazeera be investigated for their allegations? Free press dictates no, but our laws and the complaints by the general public leading to the filing of police reports means it is allowed to proceed legally.

Just another reason why we should take the regulating of media out of the hands of the law and the government and put it into an independent body such as a media council to deal with such issues.

We also need to talk about why undocumented migrants have somehow remained here for multiple years with no issue until the government took action during the MCO and even now.

We have to face it - they didn’t suddenly appear within our borders just because we closed down the country. Thus, perhaps it is wise to ask them - how long have they been here, who have they been working for and just why they do not wish to go back?

Some probably took large debts just to get to Malaysia and work, some were probably brought in by human traffickers paid by their families, and some maybe even working off their debt with Malaysians who report back to their mob bosses who hold their family ransom.

These are, of course, just some dark side theories. Some probably do not want to go back because they find our country better than theirs in terms of opportunities and even the ability to earn what they perceive as a decent living, get paid below the minimum wage which even Malaysians refuse to take for menial tasks and hard, physical labour.

This subsequently means that goods are priced lower than their actual costs, as salaries are discounted and people argue “willing buyer, willing seller” even when it’s illegal and they should have been taken to court for it.

At the same time, the government should recognise the difference and make a clear distinction between illegal migrant workers and refugees. By not recognising the UN charter dictating refugees, the government groups the two together. Thus, we have a situation where those fleeing from violence and don’t even have citizenship end up being detained together with undocumented migrants, and are branded undocumented migrants themselves.

There are also a few ways to end the allegations against abuse in detention centres.

The first would be for the Immigration Department to list out how many people are in the detention centres publicly every month. This highlights the deportation process and continued efforts of the government to clear the labour workforce. At the same time, it will highlight the scale of the issue with regard to Malaysia.

Secondly, make public how many detainees have been repatriated to their home countries on a monthly and how many more will be sent back each following month.

Thirdly, enforce the laws pertaining to companies hiring undocumented migrants and also start internal investigations on corruption among law enforcement and the civil service, regardless of who they are.

We have to agree that there must be some element of corruption if undocumented migrants have been working here in Malaysia for years without a single piece of news of a company “towkay” being dragged to the court making its way into the media.

That’s exactly what Al Jazeera missed - who hired these so-called undocumented migrants and why were they not asked why they hired undocumented migrants, knowing very well that it is an illegal act?

Fourthly, recognise and distinguish the difference between undocumented migrant workers and refugees. The fact that this has gone on for ages goes to show that the government has not evolved since someone blurted out that we “would shoot the Vietnamese” on sight during the Vietnam War. It is time we change that.

Perhaps most controversially is to open up the detention centres to civil society and legal teams for them to represent those facing detention and deportation.

The reason Al Jazeera was able to make these allegations is due to the lack of transparency surrounding the treatment of detainees in the detention centres - which isn’t a new problem.

It is the same reason Steven Gan was able to do it ages ago when he was in The Sun and ended up passing the unpublished news piece to the late Irene Fernandes - and she ended up in court for 13 years over the allegation of people dying in detention centres before getting a guilty verdict overturned in 2008.

So make the whole process transparent and clear and allow oversight.

I would just like to point this out, I don’t blame the majority of Malaysians for being xenophobic against undocumented migrants and refugees, not wanting to offer them citizenship, not wanting the government to move towards another amnesty programme and not wanting to even deal with the fact that losing these migrants might mean their kangkung prices will shoot up higher than Najib Abdul Razak can boast lowering it.

After all, they’ve just proven (George) Orwell right - some animals are more equal than others. - Mkini