It’s quite shocking how much us Malaysians are unaware of when it comes to the struggles of refugees in our very own country.
In fact, The Malaysian national human rights commission (SUHAKAM) revealed that the conditions these refugees were living in were ‘torture-like’.
Source: The Rocket
One Rohingya refugee who was detained at Belantik Detention Centre, Kedah, said,
“They gave us only one small cup of water with our meals, otherwise we had to drink toilet water.”
“Only when someone was about to die would the guards come. Otherwise, if we complained, or if we asked to go to the hospital, they’d beat us.”
The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) has confirmed that 24 refugees have died in detention centres in Malaysia since 2015.
According to the UNHCR, 150,430 refugees are currently registered as Persons of Concern (POC) in Malaysia. The 22 of the 24 refugees who passed away in these detention centres were listed as POCs.
In fact, 12 refugees who have recently been released from these detention centres have shared that they have all seen at least one fellow inmate die, either of disease or from physical abuse. Gasp!
Source: ABC
Source: The Star
Executive Director of Fortify Rights, Amy Smith, addressed the cruel conditions these refugees were subjected to, saying that their deaths could have been prevented.
“The fix is very easy — Malaysia just has to stop treating refugees like hardened criminals.”
What’s even more alarming is that Malaysia’s home ministry recently reported that 161 individuals died of various diseases in immigration detention between 2014 to 2016.
Although it wasn’t clear how many of these people were refugees, but approximately half of them were from Myanmar, which make up 90% of Malaysia’s refugee population.
Refugees are already faced with so much adversity. Do they really need to be subjected to more even after fleeing their homes? And it’s just appalling to know that such cruelty is happening in our very own country.
Also read: Evil Sellers Drown Refugees In Sea By Selling Them Fake Life Jackets Stuffed With Cotton
