Shocking! 1,918 children held at Malaysian immigration detention centres

Ong Kian Ming was shocked to discovered that almost three per cent of the over 70,000 detainees held at immigration detention centres nation-wide are childen.

I received a parliamentary reply (on 20 October 2015) to my question on the number of people who are currently being held at detention centres for immigrants nationwide.

I was shocked to find out that there were 1918 children (‘kanak-kanak’ or KK) among the 71,362 detainees. This comprises almost 3 per cent of total detainees.

The issue of children in detention centres for immigrants came to public attention in an Aljazeera 101 East documentary entitled “Malaysia’s Unwanted”, which showed a small child in a detention centre where the journalist in question had entered as an undercover priest.

The statistics given in the parliamentary reply clearly shows that this is not an isolated incident. In fact, there are children in each of the 13 detention centres with the highest number in Bekenu, Sarawak (299) and the lowest in Semuja, Sarawak (9).

Statistik tahanan mengikut jantina di depot di JIM dari Januari sehingga September 2015

Statistics of detainees (by gender and children) held at immigration depots from January to September 2015

The nation with the highest number of children is Myanmar (813), followed by Indonesia (422), Philippines (295) and Cambodia (121). These four nations make up 86 per cent of the children who are in these detention centres.

Statistik tahanan di depot JIM mengikut kewarganegaraan dari Januari sehingga September 2015

Detainees by nationality, gender and children

I call upon the Minister of Home Affairs to do the following:

• Ensure that the welfare and safety of these children are given the highest priority in accordance with the provisions of the Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC), of which Malaysia is a signatory.
• Work with the embassies of the countries involved especially among the Asean countries to expedite any process to resettle or repatriate these children together with their parents.
• Work with Suhakam, NGOs and other interested parties to allow these children, together with their parents (if applicable), to be released from these detention centres and housed in other more suitable accommodation.

As a start, I call upon the Minister of Home Affairs to organise a trip for interested MPs to visit a detention centre in the Klang Valley (Bukit Jalil, KLIA or Semenyih) for us to examine the conditions under which these children are being detained.

Ong Kian Ming is the member of parliament for Serdang.

The views expressed in Aliran's media statements and the NGO statements we have endorsed reflect Aliran's official stand. Views and opinions expressed in other pieces published here do not necessarily reflect Aliran's official position.

AGENDA RAKYAT - Lima perkara utama

1. Tegakkan maruah serta kualiti kehidupan rakyat
2. Galakkan pembangunan saksama, lestari serta tangani krisis alam sekitar
3. Raikan kerencaman dan keterangkuman
4. Selamatkan demokrasi dan angkatkan keluhuran undang-undang
5. Lawan rasuah dan kronisme

Support our work by making a donation. Tap to download the QR code below and scan this QR code from Gallery by using TnG e-wallet or most banking apps: