Kuala Lumpur: The Malaysian Humanitarian Organisation (MHO) and the Malaysian Consultative Council for Islamic Organisations (Mapim) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in championing the humanitarian and welfare issues of detainees at depots, stateless communities and Malaysian refugees.
The MoU was signed to formulate activities on the issues mentioned at the Mapim president’s office.
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MHO Secretary-General Dato’ Hishamuddin Hashim said the agreement proved the commitment of both parties in fighting for the three issues in a holistic and integrated manner.
He said the issue of the basic needs of detainees at the Malaysian Immigration depots was their main focus.
“The issue of congestion in the detention depots, especially in Sabah, is very worrying after a lot of information was received from the next of kin of detainees.
“The issue is compounded by the delay in the issuance of travel passes from the Philippine Embassy, causing almost 4,000 people to have to wait for a long time there,” he said.
Hishammuddin said there were women detainees, pregnant mothers and children who were detained with their parents, the stateless who had certain documents issued by the State Government and other federal agencies that were still waiting confirmation that took so long to be released.
“These problems are causing crisis to the basic humanitarian needs that need to be scrutinised by all parties.
“We understand the cost constraints faced by the government, hence, we welcome the move by the Malaysian Immigration Department in allowing us to channel humanitarian needs to some extent to help those who are in detention.
“Among the basic needs that will be distributed are baby milk powder, diapers, food suitable for babies, anti-bacterial bath soap, vitamins, medicines related to skin diseases such as scabies and sanitary napkins,” he said, adding that all needs will be submitted to the offices of the Director of Putrajaya Immigration Depot, the Director of Sabah Immigration and the Director of Sarawak Immigration.
According to Hishammuddin, Mapim and MHO will also look at the issue of the stateless community in the country which is not seen to be well addressed.
“Whether we like it or not, we have to accept the fact that they live and grow up in our society.
“As a result of the lack of legal status or proper identity documents, these groups always face problems in their daily affairs and drop out of school resulting in them being exposed to social problems.
Hishammuddin said they will raise this stateless issue with the government with some suggestions so that this community can at least live like other human beings who can get basic humanitarian access such as education, health and so on.
“We believe with this initiative, this group can live according to the norms and culture of our society and ultimately contribute to the progress of the country.
“This community is also an existing human resource to the country and is better compared to the implementation of bringing in foreigners to fill the labour sector in the country.
“At least by employing stateless citizens with certain passes can save the country’s cash flow from going out every month,” he said.
Hishammuddin said many joint plans would be made on humanitarian issues in the country which would be proposed to the government.
“This coincides with Malaysia as one of the members of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UN) and we believe the government can play a better role in the issue of stateless society because it is also a global issue.
“Mapim and MHO will continue to fight for universal humanitarian issues and hope that the government can listen to the suggestions of NGOs.
“Mapim and MHO want to work closely with the government on this issue and are ready if needed to play a role in or at the international level,” he said.
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