The government of Malaysia should immediately take the appropriate action to latest case of migrant’s death in detention.

Latest case of migrant’s death in detention, names are Sa La Hin, 26, and Thang Hoih Ping, 21 both of them is from Burma: Star, 19/5/2009 Leptospirosis kills 2nd Myanmar illegal immigrant (Update)

SUHAKAM (Malaysia's Human Rights Commission) told us that "ABOUT 1,300 illegal foreigners have died during detention in the past six years, Malaysia Nanban quoted Malaysian Human Rights (Suhakam) commissioner Datuk N. Siva Subramaniam as saying. He said many of them died in immigration detention centres, prisons and police lockups because they were denied medical treatment at the right time.-Star, 18/12/2008 - 1,300 foreign detainees died due to neglect

SUHAKAM views the denial of medical attention to the point of endangering one’s life as a serious violation of that person’s right to life.- - letter of SUHAKAM to the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) dated 13/1/2009


The government of Malaysia should immediately take the appropriate action to remedy the family of two migrants who died.

The government to improve the sanitary and other facilities at the detention centers. The governments to ensure that migrants are provided with clean drinking water, food, appropriate space, bedding, when subject to detention.

That should including the provision of appreciate services and medical care to detainees especially the children, pregnant women and migrants with health needs in detention.



Published: Tuesday May 19, 2009 MYT 11:45:00 AM
Updated: Tuesday May 19, 2009 MYT 1:33:09 PM
Leptospirosis kills 2nd Myanmar illegal immigrant (Update)
By DERRICK VINESH

BUTTERWORTH: A second Myanmar illegal immigrant in the Juru detention camp in Central Seberang Prai here has died of Leptospirosis.
Immigration Department director-general Abdul Rahman Othman said that the immigrant, Sa La Hin, 26, who had been detained in the camp since January, succumbed to the contagious bacterial disease late Sunday at the Bukit Mertajam Hospital.
Last Tuesday, Myanmar detainee Thang Hoih Ping, 21, died of the disease in the same hospital following an outbreak in the camp.
Abdul Rahman said that as at 11am Tuesday, 24 detainees were still warded, including one in the Seberang Jaya Hospitals intensive care unit.
Of the 24 detainees, 22 are Myanmar nationals and two are Bangladeshis.
Deeply concerned over the situation, Abdul Rahman ordered all migrant detention camps in the country to increase hygiene standards and cleanliness levels, including the preparation of food and drinks.
“We have yet to obtain an official report from the Health department on the two deaths as well as the actual cause of the outbreak.
“However, we have taken precautionary measures by stationing a medical team on daily shift duty at the Juru camp to closely monitor the situation,” he said.
Not ruling out the possibility that the disease could have been transmitted from the immigrants, Abdul Rahman said that according to standard operating procedures, a medical officer usually visited the camp once a week.
However, since the outbreak, the department had opened the doors of its detention camps nationwide for health officials to come in and provide necessary medical assistance, he said.
He also said the Juru camp’s catering tender might be reviewed if the cause of the outbreak pointed to contamination of its food and drinks.
Abdul Rahman, however, discarded over-crowding as among the reasons for the widespread of the disease, noting that the Juru detention camp merely had an additional 53 detainees compared to its 500 detainee-capacity.
He also sought the co-operation of the Myanmar embassy, to help contact the next-of-kin of the two deceased detainees to enable their bodies to be sent back immediately.
On requests by residents in Perkampungan Juru to have the Juru camp relocated elsewhere, Abdul Rahman said that he had not received any formal request on the matter.