THE Bar Council has called for a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) into allegations of a police cover up in the existence of migrant jungle camps and mass graves in Wang Kelian, Perlis.

Council president George Varughese also called on the Malaysian Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) to hold its own inquiry into alleged human rights violations at these camps.

“The climate of apathy with which these reported allegations have been met leaves much to be desired,” Varughese said in a statement.

“The apparent inertia on the part of the government is reprehensible, given the abominable nature of the mass graves and “death camps”.

“Such conduct by the government is unbecoming and unacceptable,” he said, adding that the government must at all costs take action against those responsible.

He was commenting on an expose in the New Straits Times, which alleged that authorities conspired to cover up the existence of camps used by human traffickers to smuggle migrants across the Thai-Malaysian border in Perlis.

“The NST report exposes the systemic weaknesses of the Malaysian criminal justice system, and Malaysia’s approach towards asylum seekers and refugees, as well as the perpetrators and victims of human trafficking and migrant smuggling,” Varughese said.   

The NST claimed that the camps had been discovered in January 2015 but the police only announced the discovery on May 25.

The English daily also claimed that there were attempts to tamper with evidence and destroy the camps, and that some police personnel were in cahoots with human smugglers.

Human rights group Hakam also pointed to how the Thai authorities had prosecuted more people for being connected to the camps compared to their Malaysian counterparts.

Thai courts had acted against Thai nationals linked to the Wang Kelian death camps and convicted 62 people, including an army general, two provincial politicians and several police officers, of human trafficking.

In comparison, Malaysia has charged only four foreigners while 12 police officers who were initially detained, have been released.

The Malaysian police today replied to the NST’s claims, saying that they found no evidence of a cover up and that its men were not working with the smugglers.

Deputy Inspector-General of Police Noor Rashid Ibrahim said police had never stopped investigations into the camps and that the probe was ongoing. – December 24, 2017.