LETTER | So why was Zeawdeen allowed into the country 'many times'?

LETTER | I refer to the media statement by the director-general of immigration dated regarding the detention and death of an Indian national in the Bukit Jalil Immigration Detention Depot.

Without going into details, the facts of the case, as related by the director-general are as follows:

• The Indian national (Zeawdeen Kadar Masdan) was detained on May 1, 2020. At that time he had a social visit pass which had expired during the movement control order period and therefore he should not have been detained.
  
  
• However, his record showed that he had travelled in and out of Malaysia “many times” between 2017 and March 17, 2020.

According to the director-general of Immigration, “bona fide" tourists do not make such frequent journeys in and out of the country. Such travellers are often found to be working illegally or engaging in business activities”. This is his (expert) opinion but not an established fact in the case of Zeawdeen. There may be other reasons for him to travel frequently to Malaysia. 

Maybe he had close family members whom he wanted to visit regularly, maybe he felt very much at home in Malaysia, truly Asia. That does not matter. The fact is that he was not a Pati ( Pendatang Asing Tanpa Izin - illegal immigrant) and he was in the country on a legal visa issued by the Immigration Department.

The suspicions of the director-general of immigration that Zeawdeen was not a bona fide tourist may well be true but that does not in any way justify the actions of the immigration authorities. The following are some of the salient events that occurred after his detention.

• “His welfare was well-taken care of’ according to the director-general, though there have been numerous reports to the contrary about the conditions in the detention centres. Perhaps Zeawdeen was a special detainee and given special treatment.
  
  
• He was found to be Covid-19 positive on May 26 (note: he had been certified Covid-19 negative at the time of his detention) and was provided treatment at the MAEPS quarantine centre and discharged on June 7.
  
  
• On June 11, he was found in an unconscious state in the detention block at 6 pm. Did he suddenly fall unconscious from a state of consciousness? Were there no preceding symptoms or signs of distress which could have been detected in spite of his welfare being "well taken care of"?
  
  
• He was rushed to the University Kebangsaan Hospital (HUKM) at 6.30 pm and pronounced dead at about 10 pm.

The director-general is rightly concerned that media reports of this case will invite negative perceptions about the Immigration Department from the local and the international community. As proud Malaysians, we, too, are concerned that the Malaysian Immigration Department is inviting such an unsavoury reputation. We need to address the true causes of this poor reputation. What is important is to deal with what actually happens at the detention centres and not media reports of what happened and questions that are raised.

For example, if Zeawdeen was, in fact, not a bona fide tourist, why was he allowed into the country so “many times” on arrival by the immigration officers at the point of entry? Have those officers been identified and action taken against them? Were they incompetent or was there corruption involved? Do we need a movement control orders on a regular basis in order to weed out non-bona fide tourists?

Zeawdeen had not been found guilty of any offence. He was a suspect. He was detained for at least 42 days. He was 67 years old and reportedly suffering from various ailments. What are the standard operating procedures (SOPs) to deal with such cases? Are those SOPs consistent with the Nelson Mandela Rules and other internationally accepted standards?

Was he allowed any visitors to bring him medicines, phone calls to his family or to the Indian High Commission? It is not enough to state blandly that his welfare was well taken care of but he suddenly collapsed and died.

If he was treated as a suspect for offences committed during the time he was in Malaysia on social visit passes issued by the Immigration Department themselves, was he given a chance to defend himself or to have legal representation?

Is there an autopsy report and an independent inquiry into his death?

We would like to suggest that the director-general of immigration ensure that there is much more transparency in what goes on in the detention centres which are run by public funds and manned by public servants paid by taxpayers' money. The SOPs governing arrest, detention and deportation should be publicly available on the department’s website. 

We realise that it is not possible for the director-general to be personally acquainted with whatever goes on in the detention centres and at the immigration checkpoints. That is why perhaps the director-general was put in the embarrassing situation of initially denying that Zeawdeen had died and then having to retract that statement.

NGOs that work with migrant workers and refugees are privy to a lot of information which may be useful for the Immigration department. We have repeatedly asked to work with the Immigration Department to help resolve many of the issues that result in serious human rights violations which also inevitably put the department and the country in very poor light locally and internationally.

Contrary to what some people want to believe, NGOs would like every migrant worker in Malaysia to be properly documented and they are prepared to assist in any way possible to ensure that that goal is achieved. What they are opposed to are blatant abuses and violations of basic human rights and dignity in the name of security and immigration laws, facilitated by obscure and opaque SOPs, inefficiency and corruption.

“It is said that no one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest” - Nelson Mandela

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.