A group of concerned landlords who own units in a private condominium in Ampang have spoken out against an immigration raid on June 3, saying that they believe it happened due to the building's management.
Without naming the condo, they hit out at the raid against refugees who are registered with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNCHR), saying that the building's management had recently attempted to prevent them from renting out to refugees.
"We, a group of concerned owners, are angered by the events that took place from the late evening of June 3 to the early hours of June 4.
"During that period, our tenants, who are refugees registered with UNHCR Malaysia, were subjected to an immigration raid, which we strongly feel was unwarranted and unjustified.
"As this is a private property, we do not believe this could have occurred without the knowledge of the Joint Management Body (JMB), which had recently attempted to enforce a ruling prohibiting us from renting out our units to refugees," said the owners in a joint statement.
They claimed that the facilitation of the immigration raid was an attempt to further intimidate and harass legitimate tenants who are refugees.
"Many of our tenants who were detained during this operation, including women and children as young as one, were later released without any condition by immigration authorities in the early hours of June 4 after verification by UNHCR.
"This is terrible and should not have happened.
"We strongly condemn the continued threats, intimidation, and the JMB’s decision to evict our refugee tenants from the condominium," said the landlords.
Given notice to vacate
They added that on March 21, their tenants were given notice by the JMB to vacate by June 30 based on a discriminatory house rule which they have strongly objected to.
"Our tenants are not pendatang asing tanpa izin (Pati) as reported in the media but are refugees. They are mostly from Afghanistan and include individuals and families with young children who have fled the war and persecution by the Taliban regime.
"As has been reported in the media, the situation in Afghanistan is dire with many facing threats to their life, and women and girls being denied education and any hope for the future.
“As a result, these families and individuals had no choice and were forced to flee their homes, and seek safety in Malaysia," said the landlords.
Commenting on the raid last week, Kuala Lumpur Immigration director Syamsul Badrin Mohshin said in the operations which lasted about two hours, a total of 205 immigrants from Afghanistan, Libya and India, aged between six months and 68, were inspected.
“This operation involved a total of 31 immigration officers and a total of 95 men, 79 women and 31 children were inspected involving 197 Afghans, six Libyans and two Indians,” he told reporters after the operation.
Syamsul said most of the Afghans examined were UNHCR cardholders who had taken refuge in the country following the conflict in their country. - Mkini
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