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Posted: 27 Aug 2011 08:18 PM PDT

However, this emptiness was shattered for a while on August 23. About 10,000 desperate refugees who had fled the brutal military dictatorship in Burma converged on the immigration department offices because they feared imminent mass deportation.

By Peter Boyle, Green Left

Putrajaya, the seat of Malaysia's federal government, was built for more than US$8 billion as a fantasy project of the country's former PM and strongman Mohamed Mahathir.

It was carved out of rubber plantation-covered hills in the 1990s and turned into a planned city for public servants.

Many buildings were designed to look like palaces — with an eclectic mix of styles from around the world — giving the city the look of a sprawling, but spookily empty, theme park.

The Malaysian NGO Tenaganita, which protects and promotes the rights of women, migrants and refugees, said on August 24 that the refugees (who had United Nations cards recognising their refugee status) were told they needed to be registered at Putrajaya imigration office.

Thousands of people — including the elderly, ill, young children, mothers with babies — stood for hours in cramped conditions. They waited only to be told they had to come back the next day because the immigration department could register a maximum of only 2500 people a day.

Those who managed to get registered under the government's system became even more alarmed when they were then issued with a slip which said: "Purpose: Return to Home Country."

The government responded by mobilising a notorious volunteer militia that has been used to control refugees and migrant workers. Witnesses said that the militia turned up armed with sticks and abused and threatened the terrified refugees.

It was just another day in the nightmare that is life for the nearly 100,000 refugees stuck in Malaysia. The country has not signed UN conventions on refugee rights yet the Australian government is trying to deport 800 asylum seekers there.

The incident represented just a tiny bit of the misery that is the life of the 43.7 million people now estimated by the United Nations to be displaced worldwide.

Green Left Weekly gives a voice to refugees and their supporters who are campaigning against the immoral and illegal treatment of asylum seekers, especially by rich countries such as Australia.

Illegal immigrants in Sabah: A numbers game

Posted: 27 Aug 2011 06:32 PM PDT

The recent figures seem to show that the population of illegal immigrants in Sabah has not only increased, but no action has been taken to stem the tide.

Free Malaysia Today

KOTA KINABALU: Ask Sabahans if they believe the census and official figures given by the government on the number of illegal immigrants residing in the state after the recent registration exercise and they will laugh and roll their eyes.

They are not the only ones. Even illegal immigrants in the state will tell you the figures given by the Immigration Department are way off the mark.

Ismail (not his real name), an illegal immigrant who works at a building site here and does odd jobs, is one of them. He has been here for more than a decade along with an uncle and his family.

He has even gone back to the Philippines to see his family several times from Tawau. It's easy he says.

What he does is get passage on a small boat which will take him out to sea, board the ferry heading for Zamboanga in the southern Philippines at mid sea and just like that, he's out. It's the same way back.

He says for every one illegal immigrant who has registered there is at least one unregistered.

The Immigration Department says it has registered close to one million immigrants and 200,000 of them are illegal.

Ismail scoffs at this figure, something agreed by former senator and political activist Dr Chong Eng Leong.

Ismail is one of those who did not bother to register himself along with his family during the recent ballyhooed registration exercise, one in a number held since the Umno-led Barisan Nasional coalition government came to power in the state in 1994.

Ismail's uncle who came to Sabah in the mid 70s is already a permanent resident along with his children. One has become a bumiputera through marriage to a native and has gained all the entitlements which come with the status.

Nothing being done

Chong, now a Sabah PKR leader, also pointed out the conflicting figures on the illegal immigrant population in Sabah as provided by the government.

The illegal immigrant activist said the figures bandied about by the government are suspect.

Sabah Immigration Department Director Mohd bin Mentek on Thursday, commenting on 2010 Census, said that there were about 800,000 non-Malaysians living in the state. Of this number, about 200,000 are illegal residents.

Chong however noted that the Yearbook of Statistics Sabah 2010 stated that there were 932,300 non-Malaysians in Sabah and 22,900 in Labuan.

"One would take it that these foreigners were those in possession of valid documents. We were told on July by the state secretary Sukari Wakiman that there were estimated 500,000 illegal immigrants
in the state.

"But now we are told that 200,000 illegals were amongst these foreigners in the 2010 Census," he said.

He also wants to know why the illegal immigrants were merely counted during the census exercise and registered as illegals and then allowed them to remain in Sabah.

"This non-action by the authorities further confirms our perception that both state and federal governments are not sincere in tackling the problem in Sabah," he said.

The state government has been accused of never being serious about wanting to resolve the perennial issue affecting Sabah where allegations of vote-fixing using illegal immigrants as a vote bank have been hurled against it for decades.

Posted: 27 Aug 2011 06:10 PM PDT

It said: "Malaysia's online news sources and blogs have blossomed over recent years as an alternative to the government dominated mainstream media. This trend has only increased after the March 8 elections, in which Abdullah and his UMNO party suffered a major setback."

By Timothy Lawson, Green Left

A confidential United States cable released by WikiLeaks on July 29 documents the arrest of controversial Malaysian blogger and Malaysia Today editor Raja Petra Kamarudin.

Kamarudin had been outspoken in his criticism of the government.

On September 12, 2008, Kamarudin was arrested at his residence under the Internal Security Act (ISA) ― which allows for detention without trial.

Kamarudin's arrest came days after Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi threatened to use the ISA to repress those purportedly stoking racial and religious tensions.

The cable said: "The arrest was meant as a warning to the growing Internet media, but also sends a signal to the political Opposition, which has vowed to topple Abdullah's coalition later this month, that the UMNO-led government could take stern measures to defend itself."

It said: "Malaysia's online news sources and blogs have blossomed over recent years as an alternative to the government dominated mainstream media.

"This trend has only increased after the March 8 elections, in which Abdullah and his UMNO party suffered a major setback."

It states that the arrest "is another sign of insecurity on the part of Abdullah and the UMNO party. The government's use of the ISA sends a strong warning to other opposition bloggers to curb their activities.

"The arrest may intimidate some activists, but it could result in a backlash by the independent media and bloggers, and increase public disaffection with Abdullah's leadership."

Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar, who approved Kamarudin's ISA detention order, told the media that he was detained under 73(1) of the ISA because he was deemed a threat to security, peace and public order.

The arrest came after one of his more controversial posts in which he is alleged to have ridiculed Islam and the Prophet Muhammad.

Albar said: "We have called and advised him [Kamarudin] many times following the publishing of his statements but he has continued to write, so much so that they [the statements] could pose a threat [to security and public order]."

Albar said Kamarudin would be detained for 60 days and that police would do an assessment during that period; further, he stated, "if they feel he should be held more than 60 days, the police will then refer to me".

The normal procedure would be for the minister to accept the recommendations of the police and sign the order under Section 8(1) of the Act, which allows the police to detain people for renewable two-year periods.

Kamarudin was freed on November 7 after a court ruling decreed his detention was illegal.

Kamarudin's arrest came the day after the government ordered the Multimedia and Communications Commission (MCMC) to re-instate access to all blocked-websites, including the Malaysia Today site that was blocked on August 27.

Kamarudin has been detained under the ISA before. Former prime minister Matathir Mohamad detained him under the ISA in 2001 for his involvement in when former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim initiated a reform movement.

Kamarudin was held for 53 days.

The cable spelled out how US spokespeople should respond to Kamarudin's detention "if asked".

It said that, while "The United States firmly believes that freedom of the press", the US "comment further on the specific grounds for the Malaysian government's actions".

If asked about the use of the ISA law, it recommended expressing the "hope" that " countries refrain from using national security laws to curtail the peaceful expression of political views and media freedom".

Kredit: www.malaysia-today.net

Ahad, 28 Ogos 2011

Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News

Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News

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