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.