移民厅需要承诺不Rajeshvari 的事件不会发生

上个星期，在Charles Hector的网站发现了一个惊人的新闻。

一名22岁，当时怀孕6个月的印度妇女，于2007年10月在吉隆坡15碑的一间咖啡厅等候亲友的时候被警察问话，最后因为没有办法出示身份证及不记得身份证的号码，不能讲流利的马来语而被误会为斯里兰卡的无证件移民，而被送进移民厅扣留营，在哪住到上个星期，她的孩子在扣留营出生。

Suhakam slams cops over 'mistaken identity' case

The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) today took the police to task over the way it handled the case of a 22-year-old Malaysian suspected of being an illegal immigrant.

Suhakam commissioner N Siva Subramaniam said M Rajeshvari should have been given the time to explain herself.

He also criticised the police on the way it handles cases relating to illegal immigrants, saying that the police should listen to what these people have to say and not just 'tangkap muat' them.

Siva was responding to a report in the Star yesterday which stated that Rajeshvari was held at the Lenggeng immigration depot for nine months for not having proper identification and for failing to recollect her identity card number.

She was arrested during a police raid at a coffee shop in Kuala Lumpur last October. Since she was not fluent in Bahasa Malaysia, the authorities suspected her of being a Sri Lankan.
She was then sent to the Kajang prison for two months before being transferred to the immigration depot.

Rajeshvari, who was six months pregnant at the time of her arrest, later gave birth to a boy while in detention.

She was finally released last Friday following the intervention of an non-governmental organisation, the Malaysian Indian Youth council.

According to Siva, the police should have given her at least a few days to explain herself.
"She might have forgotten (her IC number) especially when she was forced to do so (during the raid)," he told a press conference at the Suhakam headquarters in Kuala Lumpur.

The commissioner said the police suspected that Rajeshvari was a Sri Lankan when she also failed to clarify her house address as she was staying in a squatter area where no house numbers are available.

"She had told the police and the National Registration Department (JPN) where she lived, but they insisted that she was a Sri Lankan. This shows that if your house is only a few kilometres away, they would still come and arrest you.

"If she (Rajeshvari) was not found by the NGO, she might have been deported (to Sri Lanka)," he added.

Not the first case

Meanwhile, the commissioner also stated that Rajeshvari’s case was not the first one, as there have been several mistaken identity cases in the country.

Having visited two immigrant depots in Menggatal and Sandakan in Sabah last week, Siva said there was a detainee who claimed to be Malaysian and owned an IC but was arrested by the authorities without any further investigation.

He said children between 12 and 17 years of age were also detained for failing to show their identification documents.

"They claimed they were born in Sabah and their parents were Malaysians. Despite all that, they were still arrested," said Siva.

Calling for a more strict system to be imposed to identify illegal immigrants, Siva said ‘thumb print identification’ could always come in handy.

"If the IC number cannot be used at that particular time, using the thumb print for identification could always work. Why isn’t the system working now?" he asked.

Siva also noted that magistrates were not fully educated in handling such cases.

"These (alleged) illegal immigrants should have been at least granted bail to provide their documents, say for a month or a week, not after eleven months," he said.

Siva said Suhakam will submit its findings to the police, NRD and the Immigration Department.
"We intend to speak to these agencies and they must come up with an assurance that we will not face the same situation anymore," he added.

虽然这样的事情不是第一次发生了，我仍然很生气到不行。尤其是当我可以近距离的接触当事人的时候。

我们看一看她被扣留的原因。

1. 没有携带自己的身份证
我有时候出门也未必会带身份证，尤其我去跑步、买饭吃。那么我会否因为我貌似中国、台湾、缅甸shan族的人，被一些没有脑的执法人员将我带去扣留营？

2. 不记得自己的身份证号码
我是很笨蛋的人。在还没有找到记得号码的窍门之前，我怎么样也没有办法记得那么长的号码。是啊，14个号码是非常的吓人的也。不记得号码就可以否决你的公民身份吗？这是什么奇怪的理由。

3. 不能说流利的马来文
让我们正视一件事情。对于很多在estate居住的印度朋友，不能说流利的马来文是很正常的一件事情。尤其很多这样的朋友连上学校的机会都没有。这是犯法的吗？刑事法典有哪一个条文说，我们一定要说流利的马来文，不然可以当作无证件移民来处理？
找一个能说印度文的翻译员，难道那么难吗？

没有办法证明Rajshvari的身份？即使她已经被扣留那么就？那么为什么Andrew可以？

It is baffling that a non-governmental organisation took only one day to verify that a suspected illegal immigrant was Malaysian when the arresting authority could not.

“They had her for a total of 11 months and they were unable to verify her claim that Rajeshvary Murugiah was a Malaysian.

“Unlike them, Andrew (Raju of the Malaysian Indian Youth Coun­cil) who met her at the clinic after she fell ill was able to confirm she was Malaysian by going to the Re­gistration Department,” said Su­­hakam commissioner Datuk N. Siva Subramaniam when contacted. - Star, 11/9/2008 -Inability to establish Rajeshvari ID baffling

这是态度的问题，是移民厅官员、RELA、警察那种“与我无关”的态度问题。对于他们，是否抓错人不重要、扣留营人满为患不重要，重要的是他们能够获得很好的“业绩”。

移民厅的执法单位的总监说了这样的一段话

However, Immigration Department enforcement chief Datuk Ishak Mohamed said that the burden of proof of citizenship was on the person suspected of being an illegal immigrant.

“The new Criminal Procedure Code also allows the suspect to make phone calls to anyone who can help,” he said, pointing out that the police had picked her up, not Immigration officials.

“But, please, don’t tell me that after 22 years, you cannot speak Bahasa Malaysia? You mean she would not know how to sing Negaraku either?” he added. - Star, 8/9/2008- Suhakam raps Immigration

拜托啦。不是人家不会说马来文，而是她说什么那些官员都不听、不理会，更不用说想其他的办法来鉴定她的身份了。

Charles Hector 很不屑的在其网站这样批评这位总监

So, what is he saying here? If I cannot speak Bahasa Malaysia - then I am presumed not to be a Malaysian. Hello, there are many Malaysians who are not able to speak Bahasa Melayu... (In any event, Rajeshwari did communicate in Bahasa Melayu - but they did not care - they did not believe her... You should have checked ...investigated... It is sad also that the Immigration guy is now allegedly trying to shift the blame...

When did being able to sing the Negaraku a proof of being a Malaysian citizen? Was Rajeshwari even asked to sing the national anthem? He is just talking non-sense. Wonder whether this Ishak Mohamad can sing the Negaraku - and we should maybe just detain him if he cannot sing it right. Absurd comment by a Malaysian public officer. Embarassing further because that man is the 'enforcement chief'.

我们的移民厅扣留营还有多少这样的冤案？那些被扣留的公民、永久公民、难民、外籍劳工等。

如果我们移民厅执法单位总监可以说出这样的话，我们有理由相信有很多这样的朋友在我们的扣留所里面，在等待有一天，他们会遇到好像Andrew和Raju这样的天使。

我们的内政部部长必须要确保这样的事件不会再发生，我们的执法官员必须获得更完善的训练，让他们学习在执法的过程中如何更像“一个人”。

拥有到扣留营去检查他们的操作的人权委员会，必须确保里面这样的冤案，全被无条件的释放。扣留营不能再有小婴孩、小孩子、临盆的妇女。

我亦呼吁那些忙着夺权、组织新政府的民联国会议员关注这样的案子，而不是忙着夺权、而忘记捍卫弱势族群的义务。

我突然很感激一位警察。

同样的例子，同样没有证件、无法沟通。在扣留了那名女孩14天后（虽然我很不满），他没有因为省事将她送到移民厅的扣留营。他联络了我们，希望我们中心可以收留她，帮她做辅导，让她可以在比较放心的情况下说出到底发生了什么事情。他觉得可能女孩被吓坏了，他们亦不知道如何帮助她，因此寻求我们的帮助。

感谢他，没有将女孩被送到扣留营，然后经历遣送到边界，再被贩卖到马来西亚这样的过程。

很明显，不是吗？是执法人员的态度问题。如果移民厅的官员、其他执法官员可以比较人性、更有创意的寻找方法来辨识所谓的“可疑人事”，Rajeshvari的事件是不可能发生的。