Depot Breakout: MP Kasthuri Patto tells all

SHAH ALAM - From crawling along the roadside while some being trampled by moving vehicles were some of the shocking incidents Batu Kawan MP Kasthuri Patto witnessed as some 528 Rohingya detainees escaped from the Sg Bakap, Penang temporary Immigration Detention Depot, earlier today.

She told Sinar Daily that saw men holding long 'bamboo-like' sticks as refugees escaped and patrol cars blocking the road, causing snarled-up traffic along the North-South Expressway highway at about 6.45 am today.

"One of the police officers told me that a few refugees had escaped. I saw a few of them crawling near the divider.

"(I saw) children were motionless. The fact that it happened near my constituency, is terribly disturbing," she further said.

Immigration Department director-general Datuk Seri Khairul Dzaimee Daud has so far said the 4.30am incident took place after the refugees broke one of the doors at the block and knocked down the barrier grill.

However, Kasthuri said immigration authorities should reveal the real reason that led to the riot.

"A very xenophobic approached has been taken by the immigration department and this is mainly due to the fact, that the word 'refugee' does not exist in the country's legal terms and neither does it exist in Immigration Act.

"These refugees are lumped together as undocumented immigrants and the use of the word illegals by the police officers says a lot because they are refugees. They did not illegally enter the country.", Kasthuri said.

So far six Rohingya refugees from Myanmar, including two children have been reported dead after being hit by moving vehicles as they tried to cross the highway during the early hours on Wednesday.

Explain depot living conditions, demands Kasthuri

Kasthuri said she blames the way refugees are treated in the country, urging the Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) to probe the living conditions of the depots.

"Lives have been lost under the enforcement agency," she said, further demanding an explanation from the immigration and the ministry to explain the living conditions condition of these detainees.

For decades ethnic Rohingya refugees fleeing Myanmar's persecution or Bangladesh's refugee camps have been seeking refuge in Malaysia. Due to that, Malaysia, being in the human rights council, should have a solution to this matter, she said.