IN recent days, there has been talk about the Al Jazeera piece detailing alleged abuse of migrant workers and refugees by the Malaysian authorities during the Covid-19 movement control order (MCO) period.

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

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

But we need to talk about why illegal migrants have somehow remained here for many years with no issue, until the government took action during the MCO and even until now. 

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

Some probably took on large debts just to get to Malaysia and work; some were probably brought in by human traffickers paid for by their families; and, some are maybe working off their debt with Malaysians who report back to their mob bosses holding 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, paid below the minimum wage that 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 be taken to court for it.

But, at the same time, 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. And thus, we have a situation where those fleeing from violence and don’t even have citizenship anywhere end up being detained with illegal migrants, and are branded illegal migrants themselves.

There are also a few ways to end the allegations of 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 is to make public aware of how many detainees have been repatriated to their home countries on a monthly basis, and how many more will be sent back each month.

Thirdly, enforce the laws pertaining to companies hiring illegal 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 illegal migrants have been working here in Malaysia for years without a single report of a company towkay being dragged to court making its way into the media.

And, that’s exactly what Al Jazeera missed – who hired these so-called illegal migrants, and why were they not asked why they hired illegal migrants, which is illegal?

Fourthly, recognise and distinguish the difference between illegal migrant workers and refugees. The fact that this has gone on for ages shows 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.

And, perhaps most controversially, since the government has continually refused to do this – open up 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 detention centres – which isn’t a new problem. 

It is the same reason Stephen Gan was able to do so ages ago when he was in theSun and ended up passing the unpublished news piece to the late Irene Fernandez – and she ended up in court for 13 years for publicising the allegation of people dying in detention centres, before her guilty verdict was 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 illegal migrants and refugees, and 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 Razak can boast of lowering it.

After all, they’ve just proven Orwell right – some animals are more equal than others. – July 8, 2020.

* Hafidz Baharom reads The Malaysian Insight.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.