SEPUTEH MP Teresa Kok Suh Sim urged the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (SUHAKAM) to conduct human rights courses for enforcement agencies officers, including the police and immigration.
“This is to ensure that they comply with international human rights norms and standards while carrying out their jobs and avoid making trivial remarks, such as enforcing such inhumane and outdated behaviours,” she said, in a statement.
Yesterday, Federal Internal Security and Public Order director Datuk Hazani Ghazali proposed that the Government utilises corporal punishment against undocumented migrants who have been caught repeatedly entering the country through illegal entry points.
Hazani was suggesting that the undocumented migrants should be whipped.
However, Kok was unimpressed with the suggestion.
She questioned Hazani whether punishment would also apply to enforcement officers who failed in their duties in preventing illegal migrants from entering into Malaysia, in addition to the civil servants who aided and abetted human trafficking.
“Section 6(3) of the Immigration Act states that the penalty for illegal entry is a fine not exceeding RM10,000 or imprisonment for up to five years, and offenders are also liable to whipping of not more than six strokes,” stated Kok.
Withal, she reminded senior civil servants and police officers that whipping was considered a brutal act that degrades human dignity.
According to Kok, most illegal migrants who sneak into Malaysia are destitute people from neighbouring countries seeking employment, adding such callous ideas would only further aggravate Malaysia’s relationships with neighbouring countries.
“How will Hazani react when whipping is imposed on our people abroad, when there are Malaysians who have overstayed in foreign countries seeking employment?” she queried. – Feb 3, 2022
