KUALA LUMPUR, May 18 — Police have opened an investigation paper on
Irene Fernandez for sedition, following the prominent activist’s remarks
that Malaysia was unsafe for migrant workers, published in an
Indonesian paper recently.
City Criminal Investigation Department (CID) chief Datuk Ku Chin Wah
said the investigation was based on two police reports filed two days
ago.
“Maybe
under (the) Sedition (Act) but we have to see first. We may also call
her give a statement to help in the investigation,” Ku was reported by
Bernama as telling reporters today.
The national news agency reported that two non-government bodies and
officers from the People’s Volunteer Corps (Rela) had lodged police
reports at the Dang Wangi district police headquarters on May 16,
calling for the Tenaganita executive director to be investigated for
alleging that Bangladeshi migrant workers were oppressed and regularly
intimidated by the authorities.
Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin was yesterday reported
to have condemned Fernandez for her remarks that were damaging to the
country, saying she was disloyal.
The human rights activist, who is 66 this year, was questioned by
officials from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) last week
for criticising Malaysia’s treatment of migrant workers in the
Indonesian daily.
The Jakarta Post had on May 7 reported Fernandez as saying,
among others, that Malaysia was not safe for Indonesian workers because
it did not have a legal framework or specific laws to protect migrant
workers.
She was also reported to have said that it was not in the police’s
power to shoot dead three Indonesian nationals, who had been suspected
of burglary and robbery, in an incident in Port Dickson recently.
Fernandez has since come under heavy fire locally for her criticism,
which detractors say has painted Malaysia in a negative light, was
unpatriotic and detrimental to Malaysia’s bilateral relations with
Indonesia.
She has since disputed the remarks and said the Jakarta Post would print a correction to the article
.
But she stressed that she would not back down from her stand that
Malaysia continues to be a “completely” unsafe environment for
Indonesian workers.
The activist, who was once jailed for exposing the allegedly poor
conditions at local immigration centres, also refused to apologise for
her statements, demanding instead that the government and her critics
apologise to her.
Indonesia recently lifted the moratorium on the supply of domestic
workers to Malaysia, but Indonesian Manpower and Transmigration Minister
Muhaimin Iskandar has repeatedly said Jakarta would not send workers
until Putrajaya could ensure their protection.
No comments:
Post a Comment