MALAYSIA needs to start treating refugees with humanity and respect, and not like caged criminals arrested for hardcore crimes, activists said.

They said much is left to be desired with the manner in which these refugees are being treated at present, especially while in detention where they are even denied basic rights, including access to medical care.

They told The Malaysian Insight that gaining access to these detained refugees is very difficult even for United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) representatives, let alone for activists.

“I work closely with this community and I’ve spoken to those who are detained, all I can say is they should be treated humanely,” said beauty queen and humanitarian Deborah Priya Henry.

“In some immigration depots, they are even denied basic medical access, which should not be happening,” she said.

The plight of refugees has again been brought to the fore after 528 Rohingya detainees escaped an immigration detention centre in Sg Bakap last month. 

Six of the escapees were killed in a road accident while trying to flee in the early hours of the day. 

There have also been reports of these refugees being denied medical access in the immigration department, which led to their riot and escape. 

Henry said there should be an overhaul on the way the immigration detention centres are being run.

“There should be a base minimum on how the refugees are being treated.

“Also the authorities should allow civil society groups to access immigration detention centres in order to assist the refugees. 

“If the authorities have nothing to hide, then why be so secretive and not allow us in,” questioned Henry, who co-founded a nonprofit education hub called Fugee School, which provides primary, secondary and tertiary education for refugee children mainly from Somalia and the Middle East. 

She also pointed out that authorities were quick to pass negative comments on the refugees, which often leads to portraying them as criminals. 

Political tool 

Meanwhile Adrian Pereira of North South Initiative said immigration centres present major red flags when it comes to the way these refugees are treated.

“There are all sorts of diseases being spread around these centres, which leads to death of the detainees. 

“There are people literally dying at these detention camps. Activists and the relevant people should have access to visit these centres but unfortunately no one is allowed,” he said.

He said that even UNHCR has difficulty gaining access to these immigration centres. 

He added that deaths in these detention centres are also usually not investigated.

“The camp commandant must call for an inquest whenever there is death reported in the immigration centres, but we don’t see the attorney-general pushing for it,” he said. 

Beyond Borders founder Mahi Ramakrishnan said the escape incident in Kedah was inevitable.

“The fact that the Malaysian government had held them for more than two years is a violation of international human rights,” she said.

According to her, refugees often become a political tool for lawmakers.

“If you look at former prime minister Najib Razak, he used the Rohingya issue for brownie points during his election campaigns.

“So it is about time for our current prime minister to decide whether he wants to go about it in a more progressive manner,” she said.

She also agreed that UNHCR should be given access for more frequent visits to immigration centres to monitor the situation there.

According to UNHCR, Malaysia hosts some 181,000 refugees and asylum-seekers, and 85% are from Myanmar, including some 103,000 Rohingyas.

The remaining are from 50 other countries, including Pakistan, Yemen, Syria, and Somalia. – May 5, 2022.