Press Statement
14 August 2004

Reference: Ramon Bultron, Managing Director
Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants (APMM)
Contact Nos. (852) 9477-3141 / 2723-75436

Malaysian Government Must Heed the Call to Ensure the Protection of Undocumented Migrants and Stop the Crackdown!

The Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants expresses its grave concern about the impending arrest and deportation of undocumented migrants in Malaysia.

Recently, the Malaysian government announced that they will again conduct massive arrests and deportation of undocumented migrants. Around 1.2 million migrant workers in Malaysia will be affected by this pronouncement. Most of them came from Indonesia, Philippines, Bangladesh, India and Burma among others.

In 2002, the Malaysian government conducted the same attack on undocumented migrants which resulted in the deaths of Indonesian and Filipino migrants including 13 Filipino children during the deportation process and the reported sexual abused and slavery of women by local police while inside the “concentration camp”.

Despite the experience in 2002, the governments of the affected migrants remains indecisive in ensuring the protection and the safe return of their people back home. The Philippine and Indonesian government, particularly, are turning their backs while their own people are being harshly and inhumanely treated in a foreign land.

According to Home Minister Azmi Khalid, the Malaysian government, this time, will mobilize 400,000 volunteer corps that will take part in this nationwide action. The government of Malaysia disregarded the fact that these migrant workers had a share in the building Malaysian economy and it is so unfortunate that after Malaysia benefited from the blood and tears of the destitute migrant workers, they will be hunted down and treated as criminals.

This treatment of migrants in Malaysia is deplorable and unjust. It shows how migrant workers are continuously treated as commodities and fair game.

On the other hand, the continued disregard of governments of sending countries to the plight of their compatriots abroad all the more expose the real condition in their home countries where deepening poverty due to growing unemployment and rising cost of living remains to be the major reason why their people are forced to work and stay abroad in order to survive.

We therefore urgently demand that the governments of these affected “undocumented migrants” take prompt action to ensure that the 2002 incident will not be repeated.

We demand the Malaysian government to immediately put an end to the planned arrest, detention and deportation of undocumented migrants and instead adopt a mechanism for their safety and the protection of their rights and wellbeing. The Malaysian government must observe the internationally accepted norms on the treatment of refugees.#