Malaysia to suspend repatriation of RP migrants

Malaysia to suspend repatriation of RP migrants

Agencies, Singapore/Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia

Malaysia has agreed to suspend forced repatriations of illegal
Filipino migrant workers amid outrage over conditions in
detention camps, where three children are reported to have died,
the British Broadcasting Corp. reports on its web site.

Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said he would accede to a
request from Philippines President Gloria Arroyo to allow her
time to send officials to inspect the holding centers. But he
rejected accusations from Manila that the migrants were being
treated inhumanely.

He also made it clear there would be no change to Malaysia's
tough new law allowing for the caning and jailing of illegal
workers - a policy which has seen hundreds of thousands of
Indonesians and Filipinos leave the country, though many still
remain.

The Philippines Government last week filed an official
complaint with Malaysia saying three infants had died during
repatriation - but Malaysian camp officials have denied that any
died in their jurisdiction.

"This is a great tragedy," Arroyo said in a speech, referring
to the refugees. "They are physically weak, have no life to come
home to, no jobs wait for them here.

"I appeal to everyone to donate food, medicines, clothing and
money to ease their sufferings. Before the situation turns
grimmer, let us join hands to face and end this problem."

A Philippine mission arrived in Malaysia on Monday to seek the
orderly repatriation of Filipino illegals amid claims by some
deportees their homes had been razed to drive them out.

Mission leader and presidential adviser for the Muslim
community Nur Jaafar said in Kota Kinabalu, capital of the state
of Sabah, he would ask Malaysia to simplify the deportation
process.

Philippine diplomat Giovanni Palec told Reuters by telephone
from Sabah that Jaafar's team would visit detention centers and
hoped to travel to the capital Kuala Lumpur later in the week for
a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who
is also in charge of home affairs.

Sabah Chief Minister Chong Kah Kiat, who is due to meet the
team on Tuesday, said the government would ease the team's visit
to three detention camps in Menggatal near Kota Kinabalu and in
Sandakan and Tawau town.

"We are happy that they are coming to have a look at their own
people here," he said. "Whether the situation is the same as
pictured by the Philippine media is for them to assess."

Malaysia has already expelled about 70,000 undocumented
Filipinos in recent months and the Philippines last week strongly
protested against the harsh treatment many of them were said to
have suffered in detention in Sabah.

Many Indonesians have also been expelled -- reports say there
were an estimated 500,000 Indonesians illegally working in
Malaysia before the new law took effect on August 1.

Manila's ANC television network and the Philippine Daily
Inquirer newspaper said on Monday some Filipino deportees
complained their homes were burned by Malaysians to force them to
leave.

"We heard 3,000 houses were burned. Then they arrested those
who were living there and jailed them," one unidentified Filipino
said in an ANC video clip.

The Inquirer, in a dispatch from Sandakan, quoted Filipino
resident Abdullah Jalmaani as saying his family's three houses
had been razed.

"If a house doesn't get burned, the authorities will tear it
apart," Jalmaani was quoted as saying. "It is better to go home.
It is better to live."

In Davao, Philippines, left-wing activists, including Muslim
militants, burned a Malaysian flag in southern Davao city on
Monday to protest the alleged maltreatment of thousands of
illegal Filipino migrants being deported from Malaysia.

During the rally outside the Malaysian consulate, the
protesters blamed President Arroyo for the Filipinos' fate,
saying she has not done much to protect them.