LEPTOSPIROSIS CAUSES DEATH OF ANOTHER 6 BURMESE IN DETENTION

Malaysian Trade Union Congress (MTUC) makes it 26 groups concerned about recent death of 6 Burmese in detention

Joint Statement - 25/9/2009

LEPTOSPIROSIS CAUSES DEATH OF ANOTHER 6 BURMESE IN DETENTION IN MALAYSIA

DENIAL OF HEALTHCARE IS A VIOLATION OF RIGHT TO LIFE


We are shocked and disappointed to hear that another six Burmese migrants have died while in detention in Malaysia because of a suspected waterborne disease. Leptospirosis is caused by exposure to water contaminated by animal urine, like rat urine. (Straits Times, 25/9/2009, Migrants die in detention/ Associated Press, 24/9/2009).


From our investigation, the names of 3 of those who have died are So Thein [Prison Body number 0853, Block B1, Ethnicity: Burman, Age: 36], Min Khaing [Body number 5009, Ethnicity: Karen, Age: 23] and Min Nown [Ethnicity: Arkan, Age: 28]. The other 3 are of Chin ethnicity. It seems that the deaths happened in August.


This time the deaths seem to have occurred at the Detention Centre at the KL International Airport (KLIA) depot. The Straits Times report states that an official had informed them that ‘…the detainees likely contracted the disease in another centre. They were transferred together with some 700 others after a riot there...’. In an earlier report (Star, 24/7/2009), it was stated that ‘…some 700 Myanmar illegal immigrants involved in a ruckus at the Semenyih immigration depot early this month have been moved to the department’s KL International Airport (KLIA) depot…’


It must be noted that this is not the first case of death by reason of Leptospirosis. Sa La Hin, 26, and Thang Hoih Ping, 21, two Burmese migrants, died in the Malaysia’s Juru Immigration Detention Centre from Leptospirosis in May 2009. 127 civil society groups and organizations responded vide a joint statement entitled ‘Death Of 2 Burmese Indicative Of State Of Detention Places In Malaysia - Denial Of Healthcare Is A Violation Of Right To Life’.


Complaints were also lodged with the Malaysia’s Human Rights Commission (SUHAKAM), Malaysian Prime Minister Dato' Sri Mohd Najib Bin Tun Haji Abdul Razak,, Minister of Home Affairs Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein, and the Minister of Health Dato' Sri Liow Tiong Lai,


After that Leptospirosis outbreak in the Juru Detention Centre in Penang in May, the Immigration Director-General Abdul Rahman assured us that the cleanliness and hygiene at immigration depots nationwide will be stepped-up to ensure safety of staff and inmates there against contracting infectious diseases (Bernama, 19/5/2009).


SUHAKAM also vide letter dated 16/7/2009 had informed us that they had met with the Director General of Immigration on 4/6/2009, and amongst others, had recommended that ‘… as a measure to control contagious diseases to ensure that all immigration detention centres should have a doctor or medical officer in line with international requirements, and that cleanliness of detention centres should be taken care of.’


It must also be borne in mind that last year SUHAKAM identified medical care as an overriding reason why 1,300 detainees have died over the past six years, and had made recommendations to the government. At present the 22 centres throughout Malaysia do not have a permanent clinical dispensary manned by doctors or a medical assistant to help detainees. (ABC News, 28/5/2009)


In May 2009, it was reported that about 26 were admitted to hospital following a Leptospirosis outbreak in the Juru Detention Centre, and they survived, and this leads us to believe that prompt access to healthcare can avoid death. It is shocking that in this recent case, 6 have died. What is more disturbing is that there seem to have been no reported disclosure by the Malaysian authorities on this. We still do not know the number of detainees that have been affected this time.


This is a disease caused by exposure to water contaminated with the urine of infected animals, and is very rarely propagated through contact with affected persons. Question must be raised as to how detainees in an enclosed detention centre are contracting this disease. Are they being affected through the food and water supplied by the detention centres? Are the detention centres having a rat infestation problem?


After the recent deaths and outbreak in the Juru Detention Centre, one would have expected the Malaysian government to have taken immediate steps to ensure that there are no more cases of Leptospirosis outbreak and deaths. We wonder also whether the authorities took a lackadaisical attitude, and did not even conduct a thorough investigation to determine the source of the contamination that caused that outbreak. Results of such investigations will not only determine liability, but would also ensure that further deaths from Leptospirosis could be avoided.


We, the undersigned, call on the Malaysian Human Rights Commission (SUHAKAM) to immediately commence a public inquiry into these deaths and detention places generally, and come up with concrete recommendations which could be implemented that will improve state of cleanliness, hygiene and healthcare of all detention places in Malaysia. It was sad that SUHAKAM decided not to carry out a public inquiry after the Juru deaths in May.


We are also call upon the Ministry of Health and the government of Malaysia to conduct a thorough investigation into the cause of this Leptospirosis outbreak, which is reported to have already resulted in 6 deaths.


We also call for the resignation of Immigration Director-General Abdul Rahman, considering that this is second reported case of deaths by reason of Leptospirosis at Immigration Detention Centres within the last 4 months.


The Malaysian government must take necessary action to ensure that proper steps be taken so that such disregard for life does not happen again.


With regard to those who have died, their family and/or dependents should be given adequate compensation by the persons responsible, the detaining authority and the Malaysian government.


Officers and persons responsible for the acts or omissions that resulted in death and suffering should be charged and prosecuted for these crimes. They should not be permitted to hide behind safeguards provided to public servants, which unfortunately only promotes culture of impunity with no sense of responsibility and respect for human life.


Charles Hector

Pranom Somwong

Tun Tun


For and on behalf of the 26 organizations/groups listed below:-


Asian Migrant Centre (AMC)

Burma Campaign, Malaysia

Clean Clothes Campaign -International Secretariat

Committee To Protect Vietnamese Workers, Australia

Coordination of Action Research on AIDS & Mobility (CARAM -Asia)

FIDH - International Federation for Human Rights

Khmer Kampuchea Krom Human Rights Organization (Cambodia)

Legal Support for Children and Women (LSCW) Cambodia

MADPET (Malaysians against Death Penalty and Torture)
Malaysian Trades Union Congress(MTUC)

MAP Foundation, Thailand

Mekong Migration Network (MMN)

Mekong Ecumenical Partnership Program-MEPP

Migrant Forum in Asia (MFA)

National League for Democracy [NLD (LA)], Malaysia

Network of Action for Migrants in Malaysia (NAMM)

Nepal Institute of Development Studies (NIDS) Nepal

Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM)

Persatuan Kesedaran Komuniti Selangor

Persatuan Masyarakat Malaysia & Wilayah Persekutuan (PERMAS)

Pusat Komas

The Shan Refugee Organization (SRO) Malaysia

Thai Action Committees for Democracy in Burma (TACDB)

The Action Network for Migrants (ANM) Thailand

WARBE Development Foundation, Bangladesh
Workers Hub for Change (WH4C)

SUNDAY RELA FORCE

SUNDAY! SUNDAY!

The quiet Sunday I had hoped for turned out to be quite sensational and actually ended up with a big bang BIGBAND@UM after a big brush with RELA&COM!
At 5.30 pm I retrieved two maids from the RELA base in the Chow Kit area after going round in circles for more than an hour to locate it. Two family maids were rounded up together with 10 other women and about 40 men on the first Sunday of RELA’s new operation to nab the illegals in the city. They did not have valid identification papers with them.
My son and I witnessed what we thought was an orderly exercise managed by (i) the plain-clothed RELA volunteers who mingled with the crowd in the Masjid India and Tunku Abdul Rahman areas, which apparently have become the haunt of illegals looking for work at the bazaars and food stalls; (ii) uniformed RELA members who coordinated the arrests, rounding up the illegals and transporting them in two caged lorry vans.
In a large hall on the first floor of the base building the errant illegals were seated on the floor in two groups facing a table of 4 RELA officers who recorded their particulars.
As my son and I were the first on the scene and we had the maids’ passports, they were the first two to be released. We were politely told to equip the maids with a signed photocopy of their passport complete with our contact number whenever they were out in the streets.
It was a relief to be spared the agony of retrieving them from the detention camp in Lenggeng where those who were not claimed by their employers after four hours were to be taken. Apparently, once in Lenggeng there would be the hassle of dealing with the Immigration Department where the paper work would take up to a week. Those without valid travel documents would be sent home.
I have only two complaints to make: (i) the RELA people were not able to give me clear directions or an address to get to their base. All they said was “dekat Masjid India” and “belakang Pizza Hut di Jalan Chow Kit” assuming I was a regular there; (ii) the lorry van which has space for 10 sitting and 10 standing was crammed with about 40 men. I can imagine the discomfort and the potential health hazard if the ride was longer or if the men were older!
The experience was certainly an eye opener to the kind of work enforcement agencies undertake to make our cities and our country a better, safer place. The work is neither pleasant and easy nor smoothflowing and clean. These men and women, many of them volunteers, need our support and our encouragement! They, too, need a pat on the back when the job is well done!

Home Ministry Targets 2.5 Million Rela Members By 2012

Home Ministry Targets 2.5 Million Rela Members By 2012

KLUANG, May 17 (Bernama) -- The Home Ministry hopes to increase the number of Rela members from 556,286 (current figure) to 2.5 million by 2012 said Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein.

The additional members comprising all races would not only strengthen Rela but also form a human wave made of volunteers to help achieve the 1Malaysia concept.

"Since there are a number of political, religious and racial issues, there need to be a bridge like Rela, to unite the people," he told reporters after a meet the people session organised by Rela here Friday.

Hishammuddin said according to statistics as of April 30, there are 556,286 Rela members (492,917 men and 63,369 women) and from the total, 346,352 were Malays, 84,849 Chinese and 25,899 Indians.

The Ministry will continue to encourage youths, National Service trainees, students of Higher Learning Institutions to join Rela, he said.

Meanwhile, asked of the Bar Council's call for him and Federal Police Chief Tan Sri Musa Hassan to resign, Hishammuddin who is also Member of Parliament for Sembrong, said there would be no compromise on issues that would be detrimental to the harmony of the nation.

"According to the constitution of the country, nobody is above the law, including lawyers, Federal Police Chief or Home Minister," he said.

During a press conference Saturrday, the Bar Council demanded the resignations of Hishammuddin, Musa and Brickfields police chief ACP Wan Abdul Bari Wan Abdul Khalid for detaining five lawyers from the Legal Aid Bureau on May 7.

Bar Council president Ragunath Kesavan said the five lawyers were in front of the Brickfields police station to provide legal aid to those nabbed during a candlelight vigil in support of Bersih activist Wong Chin Huat and not involved in the gathering.

Government uses RELA force on migrant workers

(New York, May 9, 2007) – The Malaysian government should immediately take steps to dissolve the People’s Volunteer Corps (Ikatan Relawan Rakyat or RELA), responsible for numerous cases of illegal detentions, unlawful use of force, and extortion, Human Rights Watch said today.

The Malaysian government has authorized almost half a million RELA volunteers to help maintain public order, primarily through the apprehension of undocumented migrant workers, most of whom come to Malaysia to augment Malaysia’s insufficient labor force. In carrying out their duties, RELA volunteers often employ unnecessary force and illegal policing practices. Fully uniformed, armed, and unaccompanied by police or immigration officers, they break into migrant lodgings in the middle of the night without warrants, brutalize inhabitants, extort money, and confiscate cell phones, clothing, jewelry, and household goods, before handcuffing migrants and transporting them to detention camps for “illegal immigrants.”

“The government has set up what’s little more than a vigilante force to target foreigners,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Given RELA’s repeated abuses, it should be disbanded right away.”

RELA members have failed to distinguish or deliberately ignored the distinctions between undocumented immigrants, and refugees and asylum seekers. At other times, volunteers have refused to recognize a worker’s legitimate immigration status. In an effort to legitimatize their own behavior, the volunteers have been known to deliberately destroy identification cards proving a worker’s right to be in Malaysia.

There have been many examples of unlawful behavior by RELA. Cases from 2007 include:

- On April 5, RELA members arrested some 20 Burmese refugees and asylum seekers at a market in downtown Kuala Lumpur. At least five had been recognized as refugees by the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

In late March, eight members of a RELA team removed belongings amounting to RM 1,800 (approximately US$525) from one dwelling. After police ascertained that at least two of those implicated had stolen before, the full team was detained on robbery charges.

- On March 8, a RELA officer detained an Indian immigrant with identification certifying his legal status. It took four days for the worker’s employer to obtain his release from a detention camp for illegal immigrants.

- On March 6 and 7, RELA volunteers, who had come to Kampung Berembang, a village near Kuala Lumpur, supposedly to hand out flyers related to court orders, instead helped a developer evict 50 families and tear down their houses. Several villagers were arrested. The demolition went ahead despite an injunction to desist until a scheduled hearing was held. By helping the developers, RELA volunteers engaged in activities – some were spotted operating bulldozers – well beyond their mandate. In addition, they used excessive force while doing so.

- On March 2, at 2:30 a.m., 10 RELA volunteers raided a factory in Jenjarom, Selangor state, injuring two Nepalese workers and detaining eight others.

- On January 28, a RELA raid in Kampung Sungai Merab, Denkil, resulted in the arbitrary arrest of 14 persons recognized by UNHCR as refugees.

“The Malaysian government fans xenophobia through its use of RELA,” said Adams. “By targeting all foreign migrants, Malaysia undermines its espoused pan-Asian ethic.”

According to the 2005 amendment to Malaysia’s Essential Regulations, part of Malaysia’s security legislation, RELA is allowed to arrest an individual or enter and search any premises, public or private, without a search or arrest warrant. The amendment also gives RELA volunteers the right to bear and use firearms, and to demand documents. All that is necessary is authorization to conduct a raid from certain RELA officials, including the director general and deputy director general of RELA and other RELA officers appointed by the home affairs minister.

The 2005 amendment also gives effective legal immunity to RELA volunteers. Regulation 16 of the act states: “The Public Protection Authorities Act 1948 shall apply to any action, suit, prosecution or proceedings against ... RELA ... or any member ... in respect of any act, neglect or default done or committed by him in good faith or any omission omitted by him in good faith, in such capacity.”

In response to publicized abuses in April 2007, RELA headquarters issued a circular announcing that a raiding team leader would be responsible for conducting body searches on force members before and after raids to ensure they were abiding by the law. To make sure that volunteers do not steal or plant evidence, the team leader is instructed to check that volunteers are not carrying cell phones or weapons and only a limited amount of money. RELA officials have also responded to complaints by announcing new training procedures.

“RELA’s behavior has embarrassed the government into announcing some minor reforms,” said Adams. “But tinkering with raiding procedures or upgrading training will not get to the fundamental issue, which is that RELA should be disbanded. Malaysia has plenty of professional law enforcement bodies.”

According to Malaysia’s Home Ministry, the role of RELA, which dates back to 1972, is “to help maintain security in the country and the well-being of the people.” It is used as the eyes and ears of the government, to collect information for government agencies such as the police, customs, and immigration on threats to security, to do security patrolling to prevent crime, and, when necessary, to carry out citizens’ arrests. The 2005 amendment ceded more power to RELA by permitting it, “where it has reasonable belief that any person is a terrorist, undesirable person, illegal immigrant or an occupier, to stop that person in order to make all such inquiries or to require the production of all such documents or other things as the competent authority may consider necessary.”