KUALA LUMPUR – The Immigration Department has denied claims of the ill-treatment of Indonesian migrants held in various detention centres in Sabah published by Indonesia’s Koalisi Buruh Migran Berdaulat movement recently.
Immigration director-general Datuk Seri Khairul Dzaimee Daud said the treatment given to all detainees at the depot, including Indonesian nationals, is good and in accordance with the Nelson Mandela Rules standard.
He claimed the allegations hurled against the department are unfounded.
The Nelson Mandela Rules emphasise that the provision of healthcare for prisoners is the state’s responsibility and that the relationship between healthcare professionals and prisoners is governed by the same ethical and professional standards as those applicable to patients in the community.
“Early health treatments by assistant health officers from the Health Ministry are stationed in groups in all immigration depots in Malaysia.
“Serious cases would be referred directly to the nearest hospitals,” he said in a statement here today.
Khairul also confirmed that the number of deaths at the immigration depot in Sabah was 18 in 2021 and six this year.
“They died while undergoing treatment at the hospital and due to heart, kidney, Covid-19, and pneumonia,” he said.
According to him, the department also has a standard procedure in dealing with deaths during detention.
Police reports would be lodged by officers on duty, while the hospital would issue the cause of death and confirmation of death by the coroners, he added.
“If any of these deaths were due to misconduct of officers, they would easily be tracked and investigations would be carried out in accordance with the law,” he said.
Indonesian human rights movement, Koalisi Buruh Migran Berdaulat has released reports and interviewed some 100 former detainees who were based at the various immigration depots in Sabah on June 24.
The interviews were carried out between March 2021 until June, involving detainees who were repatriated from Sabah to a quarters run by the Indonesian government in Nunukan, Kalimantan.
Titled Seperti Di Neraka: Kondisi Pusat Tahanan Imigrasi Sabah, Malaysia (Akin to Hell: Conditions of Migration Detention Centres in Sabah, Malaysia), it alleged detainees being forced to sleep in cramped spaces, dirty and unhygienic toilets and officers selling basic medicines for profits. – The Vibes, June 28, 2022
