Activist slams home minister over rationale in keeping Rohingya detained

 

The Rohingya did not want to leave their country but were forced to do so due to a genocide in their own country, says former home minister Syed Hamid Albar.

GEORGE TOWN: A human rights activist has rubbished a claim by the home minister that more Rohingya would end up on Malaysia’s shores if they were not made an example of by detaining them.

Jerald Joseph said the claim by Hamzah Zainudin in justifying the government’s decision to keep the Rohingya refugees detained indefinitely was also wrong under international law.

Recently, Hamzah said the Rohingya would remain detained in immigration depots to serve as a warning to others planning to enter Malaysia.

His remark was in response to criticism against Putrajaya over the indefinite detention of Rohingya refugees at immigration depots across the country.

Jerald Joseph.

The issue came to light after more than 500 Rohingya refugees escaped from a temporary immigration depot in Kedah last week. About 60 of them are still at large.

“A minister has said more will come in if they let them go,” Joseph said at a forum hosted by Sinar Daily. “I have never seen this happening in countries that signed the refugee convention. The question that has yet to be answered is this: If you can’t send them back, why are we keeping them?”

He said Hamzah’s plan to “review” the issuance of UNHCR cards to refugees on the back of the Kedah refugee escape was also not right. The minister was reported to have said that the ease in the availability of such cards had seen more immigrants come into the country.

“They are an internationally recognised body. So why use them (UNHCR) as a regular whipping boy when there are legal or policy gaps in the country?” Joseph asked.

Refugees are not illegal, says former minister

Syed Hamid Albar.

Another panellist, former home minister Syed Hamid Albar, said the government must develop a clear refugee policy so that all enforcement agencies were on the same page.

He said the refugees were not illegal and should be allowed to work and be given coaching in language skills.

Hamid said the current atmosphere of fear-mongering that the Rohingya would take over local jobs was also not true, as most came from impoverished backgrounds and worked informal jobs in their home country.

“There is no need to look at each other as a foe. Malaysians are known to be charitable, compassionate and merciful, but they mistreat them when it comes to this group. We need to change this.

“These people did not want to leave their country but were forced to do so due to a genocide in their own country,” he said.

Women using shirts as sanitary pads, claims activist

Refuge for Refugees executive director Heidy Quah said the government should work hand in hand with NGOs.

She also claimed that detention centres’ dire state of affairs ought to be fixed, ensuring that they are supplied with necessities.

Quah claimed women and children suffered the most at these centres.

“They (women) are given two t-shirts and two pairs of pants, and they have to rotate that during their period. They also use the same T-shirts off their backs as diapers for children and newborns. There is no soap to wash their clothes, just running water,” she claimed.

Joseph said long-term detention at immigration depots did not work, as the Mandela Rules did not apply to them. The rules are international standards for prisons or detention centres.

“An immigration detention centre is only meant to hold a person without documents temporarily before they are sent back to their home country.

“In prison, you have exercise, work, and you are not in a cell for 24 hours. So holding these refugees for long periods is detrimental to their lives and wellbeing, what more when you cannot deport them to their home country,” he said. - FMT