Malaysia’s secret ‘hell’: victims of violence, extortion and abuse of power in immigration detention centres tell their stories
Detainees tell shocking tales of beatings, humiliation, corruption and intimidation at the hands of immigration officers; a Malaysia-based human rights group says such abuse is a daily occurrence
A Malaysian immigration officer’s physical assault of a foreign national who appeared to be of South Asian origin, captured on a mobile phone in Johor Bahru near the Singapore border, led to swift retribution. After the video went viral on social media in early June, it was reported that the officer had been suspended and would probably lose his job.
Malaysians were outraged at the mistreatment meted out on the foreigner – a departure from the scorn Malaysians usually heap on migrant workers from South Asia in the country.
The incident, in which the irritated officer slapped the visitor across the head with his passport before hitting his hands on the counter, is just the tip of the iceberg, according to Tenaganita, a Malaysia-based human rights group.
Away from public view, in the country’s immigration detention centres, abuse is a daily occurrence, Glorene A. Das, an executive director of Tenaganita, tells the Post. People denied entry to the country are also deprived of their basic rights, and left defenceless against the whims of the officers in charge, she says.
In another case last month, Singaporean traveller Joshua Lee, who was visiting Malaysia for an e-sports tournament, describes on Facebook how he “entered hell” when immigration officers at Kuala Lumpur International Airport detained him because his passport was due to expire in less than six months.
