KL comes under fire from Manila over illegals

KL comes under fire from Manila over illegals

Agencies, Manila/Kuala Lumpur

The Philippines said on Tuesday it had protested to Malaysia
against harsh conditions of hundreds of Filipino illegal migrants
detained in the eastern state of Sabah in the wake of a crackdown
on illegals.

Philippine Foreign Secretary Blas Ople lodged the complaint at
a meeting with Malaysian ambassador, Mohamad Taufik, following
Kuala Lumpur's decision to deport thousands of illegal foreign
workers, including Filipinos, and their dependents.

"We have lodged a diplomatic protest on the basis of reports
of our consular officers in Sabah confirming the harsh conditions
of hundreds of so-called illegal Filipino migrants," Ople told
reporters after summoning Taufik to the foreign ministry.

Ople said the reports he received mentioned the deaths of
several infants due to malnutrition, dehydration and pulmonary
diseases.

According to Philippine legislators, at least seven Filipino
children have died in recent days under unhygienic conditions in
holding areas crammed with hundreds of illegal immigrants
awaiting deportation from the eastern Malaysian state of Sabah.

Top Philippine legislators earlier on Tuesday demanded the
government file a diplomatic protest with Malaysia over the
treatment accorded to the Filipino deportees.

Since February, about 64,000 Filipinos have left Sabah and
about 4,000 others are awaiting deportation, officials in Manila
said.

It is estimated that up to half-a-million Filipinos live in
Sabah, some of them refugees from a Muslim separatist rebellion
in the southern Philippines in the 1970s.

Philippine television has broadcast pictures of appalling
conditions at the holding centers teeming with illegals in Sabah.
At least one woman was seen weeping over her dead baby.

Malaysian authorities claim they have "done their best" but
"when you see people dying, it is certainly below any decent
standard," Senator Manuel Villar told local television.

"The Malaysian government should be held liable for the deaths
of these children who died in the holding areas with inhuman
conditions," said Apolinario Lozada, a member of the House of
Representatives.

Some of the deportees who recently arrived in the southern
Philippines, near the maritime border with Malaysia, complained
of being kept in cramped detention centers in Sabah, located on
the Malaysian side of Borneo island.

Ople said Taufik had promised to convey to Kuala Lumpur
Manila's concerns.

"He also said there would be an orderly process of deportation
of those found violating Malaysian laws," Ople said.

Manila's complaint came as Malaysia warned its citizens not to
visit Indonesia and other countries where there could be a
backlash against Kuala Lumpur's drive to expel illegal
immigrants. Jakarta has dismissed the warning as unwarranted and
baseless.

The Malaysian government had given illegal immigrants until
Aug. 1 to leave or face penalties of six months in jail and up to
six strokes of the cane.

Facing rising anger in neighboring Indonesia and the
Philippines, the Malaysian government on Tuesday defended tough
new penalties for illegal immigrants that include whipping.

"Illegal immigrants, from whatever country they come from,
will face the same fate - they will be punished according to our
laws," Musa Aman, a minister in the Malaysian state of Sabah, was
quoted as saying by the Bernama news agency.

Kuala Lumpur estimates there were around 600,000 illegal
workers among the two million or so foreign workers in Malaysia,
employed as domestic helpers, construction and factory workers.

Malaysia lifted a ban this month on the hiring of Indonesian
construction and manufacturing workers due to a labor shortage
caused by the clampdown. The ban was imposed in February after a
series of violent incidents, mainly involving Indonesians.