Malaysia blasted by NGOs for the “hellish” treatment and deaths of 149 Indonesians

Malaysia has been slammed by Indonesian rights groups for causing the deaths of 149 Indonesian nationals who were allegedly treated inhumanely while held at detention facilities in Tawau, Sabah over the past 18 months. Between January and March of 2022, there were supposedly 18 deaths. The accusations came following a report by the Indonesian non-governmental organization (NGO) Koalisi Buruh Migran Berdaulat titled Seperti di Neraka: Kondisi Pusat Tahanan Imigrasi di Sabah, Malaysia (Like in Hell: The Conditions of Immigration Detainment Centers in Sabah, Malaysia).

The report was released after the team had interviewed around 100 former Indonesian detainees who’d been part of a group of 2,191 that were returned and repatriated back to their home country back in 2021, with 57 of them under the age of five. The report noted that “except in Sandakan, the immigration detention centers elsewhere often exceeded their capacities”, and that each block was packed to the brim, dirty, and void of sunlight. “Unpleasant smells filled several blocks while the toilets were extremely dirty,” the report said.

“There were no beds provided. Each detainee slept on the hard floor with only cardboards as beds. ” One example given told of 260 people – including children – having to squeeze into windowless cells about the size of one badminton court, where there were only three toilet bowls.

In many cases, detainees were made to huddle together while sleeping due to the cramped spaces, and some even had to sleep in the toilets due to overcrowding. There was also a case of one Down syndrome-afflicted detainee named Nathan who’d been left to die after receiving no health support even despite complaining of illness for an extended period. He passed in March 2022, with no cause of death stated on his death certificate.

“Several times the officers made light of Nathan’s condition by saying ‘you can still hang on, right?’, and only giving him Paracetamol,” said Abu Mufakhir, who represented the NGO at the launch of the report last weekend. The total death toll of 149 was given to the NGO by the Malaysian embassy in Jakarta, which also reported 2,191 deportations between January 2021 to June 24, 2022. In the report, there were plenty of other examples where detainees were made to suffer horrific living conditions, such as only getting two to three hours of sleep a day, being refused medical care and proper nourishment, and not getting clean water to drink.

Allegedly, during a scabies outbreak, the detainees had asked the immigration officers for medication, but were told in a derisory tone to scratch their itches. “There, that’s the cure,” the officers had told them mockingly. Sadly, the report also detailed how almost every single detention center in Sabah had lacked basic healthcare equipment, facilities, and personnel, while medication sold to the detainees were priced way above typical market prices.

“Basic medicine such as paracetamol, antibiotics, other pain killers, and itch medicines sole by officers through several detainees are very expensive,” the report said. “For instance, a strip of paracetamol with 10 tablets was being sold for RM50 (US$11. 40) at the Kimanis detention center, when it is available elsewhere for just RM4 (US$0.

90). ” Dinda Nuur Annisaa Yura from the rights group Solidarita Perempuan (Women’s Solidarity) commented on the contents of the report, saying that the attitudes by the Malaysian immigration officers were akin to that of colonial-era guards, who saw fit to abuse and dominate their detainees rather than just keep an eye on them. “From here we see a paradigm, a perspective that does not see these detainees as humans,” she said.

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