To anyone familiar with the treatment of women from certain Asian countries, Malaysia’s system of law enforcement must seem simply bizarre and quite frankly cruel.
It is heartbreaking when foreign women legally married to Malaysian citizens are separated from their children on suspicion of having forged documents.
And it borders on stereotyping when they are suspected of negative behaviour such as being in a certain line of work often frowned upon by the authorities and certain segments of society.
The wholly unnecessary 14-day detention of women on suspicion of being in the country illegally is a disgrace to any democracy.
Although the Immigration Act allows for such detention, it is warped reasoning to hold that 14 days are needed to verify a government document, more so when the document holder had been cleared to be in the country.
That’s like law enforcement being a snail on Valium.
In this age of technological advancement such verification could, surely, be done instantly by checking their status online with the Immigration Department or at any police station.
A 25-year-old Vietnamese woman, legally married to a Klang property agent, has been languishing since March 13 at the Immigration Depot in Sepang, a centre for illegal migrants, despite producing documents attesting to her legal stay here.
A magistrate had given North Klang police a 14-day remand order to hold Tran Thi Thoai Trinh, 25, under the Immigration Act to verify her documents following her arrest outside a restaurant for failing to register with the MySejahtera app.
Tran had gone for a birthday party with her husband, Yeoh Wei Chong, 29, whom she married in 2018, when her nightmare unfolded at about 5pm.
While waiting for Yeoh to park his car, she chatted with two Vietnamese women who were there for the same party.
The friends were taken into custody to have their documents verified and told they would each be issued a compound for failing to check-in using the MySejahtera app.
Yeoh later produced to the police his original marriage certificate and his wife’s passport which contains a multiple entry visa that permits her to remain in Malaysia until January next year.
Yeoh’s lawyer, V Vemal Arasan, said the investigating officer was adamant about holding Yeoh’s wife, suggesting the presumption of guilt overrode innocence.
He questioned the need for police to detain her to ascertain whether her documents are valid when Malaysia has a system which can do it in hours. Even if the checks cannot be done within hours, police could have placed a security bond and freed her.
After all, the couple live in Taman Berkeley which is under the jurisdiction of the North Klang police station, neighbourhood cops, as it were.
Had the police exercised discretion, Tran would be at home cuddling her two-year-old baby boy, Jasper Yeoh Zhun, who according to Vemal is wailing for his mother.
Mothers and babies should be kept together unless it is absolutely necessary to separate them.
Should the magistrate provide the basis for granting the 14-day remand order?
Should the court official who told Vemal to “settle” the matter, saying it was between his client and the investigating officer, be made to elaborate what that meant?
How does one “settle” cases with police?
Vemal said the official made the ambiguous remark after a High Court judge rejected an application to quash the remand order as unlawful without hearing from him and a government lawyer.
Why weren’t the parties given the opportunity to be heard when it is a normal procedure? Was a Vietnamese interpreter present at the remand hearing?
Vemal suggested that the Bar Council provide free legal representation for foreigners for remand proceedings.
He has written to Chief Judge of Malaya Azahar Mohamed to direct another judge to hear the application again but the damage to Tran’s liberty has been immense.
Her story has caused undue fear and panic among young women from certain countries married to Malaysians. They are afraid to go out because they might be arrested over doubts about their documents.
It cannot be denied there are black sheep among law enforcers who bully these women and see them as easy prey for quick money.
Where is the compassion from people whose job is to protect and serve the public?
Don’t they realise such actions against people who live and work legally in the country can harm foreign relations? These are not the enemy of the state. They are part of the framework of Malaysian society and should never be left by the wayside. - FMT
The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.
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