KUALA LUMPUR, May 31 — DAP lawmaker Charles Santiago urged today for the whole police force in Perlis to be suspended until investigations into the human trafficking camps in Wang Kelian are complete.
The Klang MP said it was “preposterous” that only two Malaysian police officers were involved in the trafficking network, as claimed by the police.
“Thousands have been held captive in sub human conditions, tortured and raped. Many have been killed.
“Local people have reported and handed over impoverished and hungry-looking people to the police,” Santiago said in a statement.
The federal lawmaker also pointed out that migrant rights NGO Tenaganita had told the police in 2008 about human trafficking, but there were no reports of the authorities following up with investigations.
He also dismissed as “absolute nonsense” Deputy Home Minister Datuk Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar’s remarks that the police could not comprehend how people smugglers used the forests in Perlis, near the Thai border, as camps to hold migrants because of the difficult terrain.
“We deserve the right to know what happened in our backyard because of vulgar greed for money.
“And until investigations are complete, the entire police force in Perlis should be suspended without further delay,” he said.
Police confirmed Monday the discovery of 139 gravesites in 28 abandoned detention camps used by people-smugglers in Perlis, after the Home Ministry initially denied the existence of any such sites in Malaysia.
Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said on Tuesday initial investigations found that Malaysian enforcement officers had collaborated with traffickers with international links spanning Thailand, Bangladesh and Myanmar.
