Amnesty International Malaysia: Migrant Workers Should Have Right To Freedom Of Movement.

The proposed preemptive measure to restrict the movement of migrant workers in Malaysia is viewed as a human rights violation and a form of punishment made out of mere suspicion of guilt, Amnesty International Malaysia (AIM) Executive Director Josef Roy Benedict said Wednesday.

The use of migrants as scapegoats for criminal acts, he said, would only increase racial and xenophobic prejudice against the migrant community in Malaysia.

"Amnesty International Malaysia is concerned about the reported proposal by Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Tan Sri Musa Hassan that foreign workers be confined to their kongsi and have their movement controlled round the clock to prevent their involvement in crime.

"We believe that migrant workers like any other persons are entitled to enjoy the fundamental rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Federal Constitution," said Benedict in a statement.

He also rationalized that since the IGP had stated only two percent of crimes last year were by foreign workers, this proposal to link the escalation of crime with foreign workers seemed to amount to racial profiling.

Benedict said this would thus instill fear and distrust within the migrant community, which made them less likely to cooperate with criminal investigations or to seek police protection when victimized. (Bernama)

***** Good. I hope that Amnesty International could at least put some sense into the minds of those who came up with this short-sighted and unkind plan. 98% of crimes are committed by Malaysians! What are we going to do about that? Extend this dumb scheme to locals at a later date? Indians it is said are responsible for crime disproportionate to their population. Perhaps for a start we could place Indians in Klang under a 6 PM to 6 AM curfew. Why stop there? How about the Chinese in Jinjang or the Malays from Kg. Dato' Keramat? But hold it. Wouldn't that be racial profiling? Of course it is! And so is the plan to confine foreign workers. We simply cannot do such things. Not in a country which claims to be a democracy.

I say shelve the plan and increase police surveillance.
Earlier Related Posts:
1) IGP Suggests Confining Foreign Workers, Putting Under 24-Hour Surveillance
2) Foreign Workers Cry Foul As Malaysian Authorities Mull Bill Restricting Activity
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