Interior Minister: 13,530 people were detained in the first three months, but the immigration detention camp was not full
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(Kuala Lumpur News on the 5th) Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin refuted the accusation that the Immigration Department’s detention camps are full and overloaded, stressing that the 200 detention camps nationwide can accommodate 20,450 people, and Immigration Department records show that the first of this year The number of people detained for three months was only 13,530.
Saifuddin told reporters after inspecting the Bukit Jalil Immigration Detention Camp this afternoon that from January 1 to March 31 this year, the Immigration Department recorded a total of 13,530 people detained in detention camps nationwide, including 9,438 men, 2696 females, 772 boys and 624 girls.
Among the 13,530 detainees, the largest number are Indonesians with 3,375 (25%), followed by the Philippines with 3,345 (24.7%), the Rohingya with 2,653 (19.6%), and Myanmar with 1,988 (14.7%). , 719 people from Bangladesh (5.3%), 340 people from Thailand (2.5%), and others, including China, India, Vietnam, Nepal, Pakistan and Cambodia, a total of 1,110 people (8.2%).
Detainees will be deported to their country of origin
Saifuddin said that during this period, the Immigration Department also deported 11,303 detainees to their countries of origin, including 8,279 men, 2,661 women, 200 boys and 163 girls.
“Even so, the representative is not saying that the detention camps will be emptied after deportation. The Immigration Bureau’s enforcement team will conduct enforcement in some hotspot areas from time to time.”
He emphasized that because people are constantly being detained, the detention camps will still be full, but they will not be overloaded.
He pointed out that he had personally inspected the detention camps and had witnessed with his own eyes that he had not seen the brutality and ill-treatment by the immigration authorities as Human Rights Watch had complained.
Detention camps cost more than 120 million last year
Saifuddin pointed out that in 2023, the government spent a total of RM122,645,458.48 on the water and electricity bills of the detention camps, food and basic necessities for the detainees, and the cost of repatriating them to their countries. These are all taxes used by the government. To pay.
He also said that the government is carrying out upgrading projects for immigration detention camps across the country. The detention camps currently being upgraded are Negeri Sembilan Lianglang (RM53.1 million), which is expected to be completed in June this year; Pekan Nana, Johor, RM98 million , Pagonu, Sarawak (RM8.1 million), Sandakan, Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, Baba and Tawau are all RM12.5 million.
“Although they entered our country illegally, we treated them kindly and in accordance with the law and took care of them in a humanitarian manner. Any party, including Human Rights Watch, must be more fair to the Malaysian government and the immigration department that handles foreign worker matters.”
In addition, Saifuddin revealed that some immigrants whose citizenship is not recognized by their country of origin are also detained in the Bukit Jalil Immigration Detention Camp. Some have stayed in the detention camp for three or even nine years.
“Some of the detainees have been held in detention camps for a long time. We cannot repatriate them because their countries of origin do not recognize their citizenship. Some of these detainees are from the Philippines and even the United States.”
However, Saifuddin did not reveal the number of people whose citizenship is not recognized.
“If Human Rights Watch really wants to take care of human rights, it should take care of these people whose citizenship is not recognized and help us better manage them.”
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