Two days from now i.e. on 31 December 2004, the deadline of the amnesty offered to the alleged illegal immigrants to leave Malaysia will end. On 1 January 2005, Malaysia will start mass arrest, detention and deportation of the alleged illegal migrants.

Started initially from 29 October to 14 November 2004, it has been extended upto 31 December 2004. In an interview on 30 November 2004, Malaysian Home Minister, Datuk Azmi Khalid gave a 30-day warning to all illegals: "The authorities would go all-out to round up the illegals, regardless of where they are. There is no amnesty or mercy to illegal immigrants, especially those who returned to their homeland during the amnesty period and had returned to

Malaysia." About 560,000 People's Volunteer Corps (Rela) and Rukun Tetangga members have been roped in to flush out the illegal migrants. This is the third time in its history that Malaysia called the Peoples Volunteer’s Corps.

According to Malaysian Immigration Enforcement Director, Datuk Ishak Mohamad, more than 120,000 illegal immigrants had left Malaysia by 14 December 2004 under the amnesty programme. Of these, 110,709 were Indonesians while the rest were Indians (7,279), Filipinos (2,453), Bangladeshis (2,216), Chinese (1,886), Nepalese (1,551) and Pakistanis (1,182). More undocumented persons have since been leaving.

While Malaysian government has the sovereign right to deal with immigration issues, its current plan of mass deportation fails to meet its basic obligation under international law. The members of the Rukun Tetangga and the Rela receive minimal training on law enforcement and the use of proportionate force. As the Malaysian government has already announced significant cash rewards for each migrant apprehended,  widespread violations of human rights of the immigrants - ill-treatment, prolonged detention, and lack of access to medical care – by the over jealous  volunteers and law enforcement personnel are imminent.

There are approximately two million migrant workers in Malaysia, primarily in construction, palm oil plantations and domestic service. Of these, more than one million reportedly lack valid work permits and therefore are illegal. However, the categorisation of all undocumented persons in one category of “illegal migrants” risks the rights of the asylum seekers from Aceh in Indonesia and Chin State in Burma.

Over the years, Malaysia has firmly refused to offer protection to refugees on its territory on the ground that it is not a party to the 1951 United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. However, it has ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and therefore, Article 22 relating to the rights of the refugee children is applicable to Malaysia. Though in a significant movement in October 2004, the Malaysian government stated its willingness to provide official identity documents to Burmese Rohingyas and so free them from the deportation process, other asylum seekers face the risks of deportation.

By 1 October 2004, the UNHCR office in Malaysia registered about 6,000 asylum seekers in 2004. Till date, UNHCR has registered a total of 30,000 asylum seekers out of which 20,000 have been given documentation while another 9,000 applications are still being processed. The asylum seekers whose applications are pending face the risk of deportation after 31 December 2004.

Majority of the Acehnese asylum seekers however cannot approach UNHCR. In mid-September 2004, the police arrested 15 refugees from outside the UNHCR office in Kuala Lumpur. In a similar crackdown in August 2003, Malaysian police arrested and detained more than 200 Acehnese asylum seekers from outside the UNHCR office. Because of arrest and deportation, majority Acehnese asylum seekers were prevented from approaching UNHCR. According to UNHCR, about 300 refugees are currently detained at immigration detention centers in Malaysia.

Malaysia has launched many "special operation" mass expulsions within specified time frames. In March 2002, under former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, the government ordered an estimated 600,000 undocumented migrant workers to leave Malaysia before an August 2002 deadline. Over 300,000 migrant workers left Malaysia during the crackdown and reports of ill-treatment of the asylum seekers including the rape of a 13-year-old Filipino girl were extensively reported. However, investigations later on found that she was a Malaysian citizen and should never have been there in the first place.

On 27 August 2002, Malaysian Ambassador to the Philippines, Mohamad Taufik, was summoned to the Philippines’ Department of Foreign Affairs and handed over the official complaint concerning the death of three Filipino children while in the process of being deported - one at a Malaysian detention centre, one on board a navy ship prior to departing Malaysia, and a third after returning to the Philippines. Two of the deaths were thought to have been related to overcrowded conditions and the third was due to dehydration. Philippines Foreign Secretary, Blas Ople told a news conference on 27 November 2002 that whilst Philippines did not expect "Hilton-standard treatment" for its nationals in Malaysia but the conditions in the detention centres were "unduly harsh".

In an atrocious judgement on 25 September 2002, Judge Mohamed Saman Mohamed Ramli acquitted Razali Pilen, 25 of raping a 23-year-old Filipino and a 24-year-old Indonesian on 24 February 2004 after they had been arrested for working illegally in Malaysia. "The sexual intercourse here seems to be voluntary, just like between husband and wife," stated Judge Mohamed. The prosecutors failed to prove the women were raped because they voluntarily undressed, did not scream, and were not bruised as if the women detainees can fight the police in a lock-up.

After the current amnesty expires, undocumented persons in Malaysia irrespective of whether they are alleged illegal migrant workers or asylum seekers can face up to a five-year jail sentence, a RM10,000 (US$2,600) fine and six strokes of the cane under the Immigration Act, which was amended in 2002. The Immigration Act also allows indefinite detention pending deportation. About 18,000 illegal migrants were reportedly caned in 2003.

The deplorable conditions of the detention centers in Malaysia require little introduction and has been confirmed by its National Human Rights Commission, SUHAKAM. On 7 September 2004, 139 asylum seekers, mostly from Aceh, Burma, Afghanistan and Nepal, detained at the infamous Semenyih Immigration Detention Centre resorted to hunger strike against filthy conditions and denial of basic facilities. Irene Fernandez, Director of Tenaganita, has been sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment on a charge of ‘maliciously publishing false news’ – for releasing a memorandum entitled  “Abuse, torture and dehumanized treatment of migrant workers at detention camps”, mainly at Semenyih Immigration Detention Centre, on 25 August 1996. The testimonies given by the migrant workers to Ms Fernandez will withstand the judicial scrutiny in any democratic country where basic semblance of independence of judiciary exists.

Malaysia is infamous for its contempt of international instruments. It has only ratified United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The SUHAKAM’s mandate is also restricted to “fundamental liberties as enshrined in Part II of the Federal Constitution of Malaysia”.

The current drive of the Malaysian government of mass arrest and deportation fails to guarantee the rights of migrant workers and their families as provided under international law including the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families. It is clear that Mahatir’s clones like Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Home Minister Datuk Azmi etc are all determined to continue with Malaysia as the Truly Asian Police State, with no rule of law or due process of law.