Kuala Lumpur: The decision to transfer children of detainees from the immigration depot to welfare organisations had nothing to do with the backlash triggered by a raid earlier this month, home minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said.
The initiative was always part of the government’s plan, he said.
“I have been engaging with all agencies since the day I stepped in the home ministry’s office,” he told reporters when met outside Dewan Rakyat.
The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia had recently expressed concern about the welfare of 36 children housed at the Lenggeng depot in Negeri Sembilan.
The children were among 67 Indonesian migrants rounded up in a raid on an illegal settlement in Nilai Spring on Feb 1.
Saifuddin also said he has briefed Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on this matter to get his opinion on it.
Yesterday, Saifuddin said children detained at immigration depots will soon be placed in the care of organisations that specialise in child welfare.
Meanwhile, immigration director-general Khairul Dzaimee Daud said the Indonesian migrants detained in the raid had wanted to remain in Malaysia without valid documents.
“They had no intention of returning to their country of origin and wanted to remain in Malaysia,” he said.
The raid was condemned by Indonesia’s National Commission on Human Rights.
It reprimanded the immigration department for not complying with the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (Cedaw) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).
Some of the children who were rounded up were as young as two-months-old.
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