Six children among 298 deaths recorded in immigration depots

Six male children were among the 298 deaths recorded in immigration detention depots nationwide between 2020 and July 12, 2022, according to Home Minister Hamzah Zainudin.

The other fatalities included 258 adult males and 34 adult female detainees.

“Out of this (298 deaths), 154 were Indonesian and Filipino detainees who died in Sabah immigration depots," he said in a parliamentary reply to Lim Lip Eng (Harapan-Kepong).

The minister said as of July 12 this year, the total number of detainees in immigration depots was 17,703, comprising 12,722 adult males, 3,217 adult females, 996 male children and 768 female children.

The majority of detainees were from the Philippines (7,022 or 39.6 percent), followed by Indonesia (4,625 or 26.13 percent) and Myanmar (1,390 or 7.85 percent).

Four immigration detention centres in Sabah alone housed 7,369 inmates, including 762 children.

Apart from asking the minister to disclose the number of deaths in immigration detention centres, Lim also demanded to know if the allegations in a report published by the Indonesian non-governmental organisation Sovereign Migrant Workers Coalition (KBMB) were true.

Titled “A Report from Hell: Conditions of the Immigration Detention Centres in Sabah”, the report said the Malaysian Embassy in Jakarta recorded 149 deaths among Indonesian detainees in five Sabah detention centres over 18 months between 2021 and 2022.

It also alleged that conditions in these detention centres, which also housed toddlers, were appalling.

Quoting statistics from the Malaysian Embassy in Jakarta, the report was derived from interviews conducted with 100 deportees in shelters managed by the Technical Implementation Unit of the Indonesian Migrant Workers Protection Agency based in Nunukan, North Kalimantan.

In his reply, Hamzah dismissed the report as inaccurate due to the “error in the mortality statistics referred."

"The Malaysian Embassy in Jakarta issued a statement on June 28 to explain the actual statistics after the Sabah Immigration Department did a cross-examination with the Indonesian consulate in Kota Kinabalu and Tawau," he said.

He said efforts have been carried out to ensure depots in Sabah are not overcrowded and the deportation process is carried out in an efficient manner.

"This includes holding regular consultations with the Philippine and Indonesian Embassies to expedite the repatriation of detainees to their countries of origin and transferring detainees to low-capacity depots," he said.

Hamzah had previously said the Immigration Department should not be held responsible for deaths in immigration detention centres before asserting that it should not have been an issue because "sometimes people die even while walking, they don’t even have to be in a depot".

Last month, Malaysiakini published interviews with Chinese nationals who were detained at the Pekan Nanas immigration depot in Johor.

Apart from suffering from skin infections, the Chinese nationals claimed they were forced to purchase items such as soap bars at exorbitant rates in exchange for using an officer’s mobile phone to speak to their families back home. - Mkini