The response by Immigration Director-General Datuk Zakaria Shaaban to the Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission (EAIC) investigation findings on abuse at the Bidor Immigration Detention Centre seems to be taking on an all-too-familiar trajectory. In the case of the foreign worker agency director assaulted by an immigration officer in June 2024 where the victim also filed a police report on the assault, similar statements of “zero tolerance” for abuse of power and the need to first wait for the full report were made by his predecessor Datuk Ruslin Jusoh. Similar tactics were also seen in the death of Nigerian student Thomas Orhions Ewansiha in 2019. In both cases, no action was taken against officers involved in perpetration of violence and negligence.
The Immigration Department’s reliance on procedural justifications continues to undermine any effort toward real accountability. Despite claims of adherence to international standards in detainee treatment and healthcare, as well as regulations in managing immigration depots, reports of violence, squalid detention conditions including limited healthcare access, and extortion have been consistently highlighted by local and international newspapers, NGOs—including Suara Rakyat Malaysia (SUARAM) in our annual Malaysia Human Rights reports—and even the National Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (SUHAKAM). These abuses are exacerbated by the chronic under-prioritisation of resources to improve detention conditions, deeply entrenched xenophobia, and where refugees and asylum seekers are concerned, state refusal to recognise the status of these vulnerable groups via accession to the 1951 Refugee Convention. Activists such as Heidy Quah and the late Irene Fernandez who spoke out against these abuses have faced judicial harassment and intimidation, exemplifying the lengths to which the system goes to silence criticism while perpetrators of abuse continue to act with impunity.
A cycle of denial and inaction is at play here. Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution’s defensiveness in rejecting the findings of independent reports, such as those by Human Rights Watch on abuses in immigration detention centres, has only perpetuated this cycle, stifling much-needed reform.
It is time for Saifuddin to own up to the reality of the torture, abuse, and inhumane conditions that detainees face in immigration detention, and commit to comprehensive reforms that break this damaging cycle of evasion and neglect. We urge the Home Minister to ensure that the Immigration Department immediately implements EAIC’s recommendations on disciplinary action against the officers involved in the Bidor abuses, with these efforts publicly disclosed for transparency and accountability. A Royal Commission of Inquiry—similar to the one established for police reform in 2005—should also be undertaken to thoroughly address systemic factors, both in legislation and in practice, that perpetuate abusive immigration detention conditions. Furthermore, Saifuddin must prioritise empowering the EAIC by granting it disciplinary powers to directly address institutional failure to take proportionate and effective corrective action against officers who committed misconduct.
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