Statement Released by:
Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants (APMM)
No. 2, Jordan Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR
Reference: Ramon Bultron, Managing Director
Contact Nos. (852) 2723-7536, 9477-3141
11 February 2005

Crackdown is not the Solution:
Stop the Impending Crackdown of Undocumented Migrants and Their Families in Malaysia!
Respect, Uphold and Protect Their Rights, Dignity and Welfare

We in the Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants are deeply concerned over the planned nationwide crackdown on the estimated 1.2 million undocumented migrants that is to take place in the next days to come.

We call on the Malaysian government and the governments of the sending countries like Indonesia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Thailand among others, whose nationals toil in Malaysia to guarantee their safety and well-being.

Another round of oppressive crackdown in Malaysia must be stopped now!

Let us not allow the repeat of notorious 2002 crackdown which inflicted grave inhumane treatment on undocumented migrants and sexual abuses on women migrants and children by the Malaysian authorities during their arrest, detention and deportation. Justice has yet to be served to the thousands of victims of the 2002 fiasco when the Malaysian government deliberately violated the 1999 Bangkok Declaration on Irregular Migration that it has signed and swore to uphold and implement.

The Malaysian government must learn from its crackdown in 2002 and the previous years. It gained an image of notoriety and cruelty on the undocumented migrants and their family members and earned the indignation from migrant organizations, women, youth and human rights groups worldwide.

Now is the chance for the Malaysian government to correct what it has done wrong to show the world its adherence to respecting and upholding the human rights of migrant workers, both legal and undocumented alike. Non-implementation of the impending crackdown is the right thing for the Malaysian government to do now. If it was able to extend the amnesty period, why not totally forgo the planned crackdown?

These undocumented migrants are human beings with human rights. Their having no legal documents must not be criminalized. Their status must not be used as a scapegoat by the Malaysian government in its failure to provide employment to its peoples. They labor hard along with the local workers in building infrastructures, dutifully performing their tasks in plantations and in the service sector in Malaysia and have hugely contributed to its economy. According to employers and some government officials, their labor is needed to fill the vacuum of jobs left out by the locals who also wish better employment and benefits. The Malaysian government is not naive to these facts.

Recently, the home countries of these undocumented migrants were already devastated by heavy natural calamities that brought distraught and massive displacement such as the 2 heavy typhoons in the Philippines and the Tsunami in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Thailand among others. It is inhumane and heartless for the Malaysian government to add further to the disasters that hound the migrant workers and their families.

Malaysia’s nationwide heavy handed dragnet of over 400,000 volunteers authorized and paid to arrest undocumented migrants is a man-made “tsunami disaster” and is likely to bring another horror of human rights violations against the undocumented migrants in Malaysia, including the punitive actions against them under the 2002 Amended Immigration Act, specifically the mandatory slave-like punishment of caning.

We therefore urge the Malaysian government to uphold and protect the rights of the undocumented migrant workers and their family members:

1. Cease the implementation of the impending oppressive crackdown;
2. Implement the 1999 Bangkok Declaration on Irregular Migration, specifically 12, 13, and 14 and other international conventions on the protection of migrants’ rights;
3. Abolish the mandatory caning under the 2002 Amended Immigration Act;
4. Legalize the status of the undocumented migrants who wish to continue working in Malaysia and ensure decent wages, work and living conditions;
5. Allow the undocumented migrants to pursue their cases with the concerned labour offices and courts until resolution of their grievances are attained;
6. And treat humanely and facilitate the safe return of undocumented migrants who wish to go home.

Equally, we strongly urge the Governments of the sending countries and their Consular/Embassy representatives in Malaysia to exercise your state and moral obligation to your nationals:

1. Protect and uphold the human rights of the undocumented migrants and their family members by exerting diplomatic representation to the Malaysian government to stop the impending crackdown;
2. Monitor any inhumane treatment and immediately intervene in any incidents found;
3. Join us in our call to the Malaysian government to legalize the undocumented migrants and to take out the punitive clause of caning from its 2002 Amended Immigration Act;
4. Unconditionally deliver legal and welfare assistance and other needs of your nationals;
5. Swiftly process and waive any consular fees in issuing their travel documents to facilitate the exit of those who wish to return home;
6. And most of all, resolutely address the root causes of force and irregular migration by providing secured and long-term employment, decent wages and adequate social services to the returning migrants and to your peoples in the homeland.