WANG KELIAN - What exactly is the Malaysian government trying to hide? Is it corruption, abuse of power, etc ? Why has the Royal Commission of Inquiry(RCI) report still not made public? Normally, such RCIs are always made public...
One of the biggest revelations was that the human trafficking death camps had been discovered months earlier, but police only announced the discovery on May 25.Another huge question mark was why did police order the destruction of these camps, which were potential crime scenes, before they could be processed by forensics personnel?...a number of burning, unanswered questions that dogged the team, among them, why had the initial discovery of these death camps been kept hush-hush; and who gave the order to sanitise and destroy the crime scene; and, why.
The incident happened in 2015, the Royal Commission of Inquiry happened and ended in 2019 - this was when Pakatan Harapan Plus governed.
So, the question is WHY did the Pakatan Harapan Plus government not disclose this RCI Report - Why the lack of transparency and accountability?
During the PH Plus rule, Muhyiddin Yasin was the Home Minister, being the Minister responsible for police and Immigration - and now he is the Prime Minister of the new PN government - and still the RCI Report is not made public?
Strangely, DAP, PAS, Amanah, PKR....also are not making noise calling for the disclosure of the Wang Kelian RCI Report - WHY?
Did the PH Plus action in not disclosing the RCI report maybe because some politicians who had since joined may be implicated?
TOO MANY QUESTIONS - IMMEDIATELY MAKE PUBLIC THE WANG KELIAN RCI REPORT
See earlier post
Wang Kelian - Muhyiddin - DPM when it happened, then Home Minister after RCI done, now PM? What is the government HIDING?
Make public RCI findings on Wang Kelian, Bar tells govt
PETALING JAYA: The Malaysian Bar wants the government to make public a royal commission of inquiry’s (RCI) findings on the mass graves discovered in Wang Kelian, Perlis, five years ago.
“Action must be taken to bring the responsible parties to justice,” its president Salim Bashir said in a statement issued in conjunction with Human Rights Day today.
The RCI was led by former chief justice Arifin Zakaria, assisted by panel members Noorbahri Baharuddin, Razali Ismail, Junaidah Abdul Rahman, Nazirah Hussain and Tan Seng Giaw.
Four individuals were charged in court over the matter but critics said these were only small-time traffickers.
More than 100 skeletal remains believed to be those of Rohingya refugees and close to 150 graves were discovered in the hills of the border town in 2015.
Salim also urged Putrajaya to accede to the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1990.
“Many of them are vulnerable and easily exploited,” he said, adding that Malaysia hosts more than two million migrant workers.
He said the government should also recognise and protect customary lands, territories and resources that were inhabited and enjoyed by the natives of Sabah and Sarawak, and the Orang Asli in the peninsula.
The Bar also called for Putrajaya to remove laws that impeded freedom of speech, fair trial and to abolish the death penalty.
It urged the government to take constructive action to ensure the effective enforcement of environmental laws that contribute to the adverse effects on the environment, health and safety of all beings.
It also wants the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia’s annual reports to be debated during Parliamentary sittings. - FMT, 10/12/2020
COMMENT| Malaysians Against Death Penalty and Torture (Madpet) is disappointed at the government’s lack of transparency concerning the findings and decisions of the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) into the Wang Kelian tragedy, where at least 130 persons died.
The victims allegedly were from the ethnic Rohingya community of Myanmar and Bangladesh. The full RCI report must be made public immediately.
In March 2015, illegal immigrants' transit camps and 147 mass graves were discovered in Wang Kelian, Perlis. All in all, the skeletal remains of about 130 people were found.
Home Minister Muhyiddin Yassin last month had said the RCI report on the Wang Kelian human trafficking incident will be submitted to the cabinet next week.
Since then, based on media reports, there has been "silence" on the part of the minister and the government.
The RCI was set up with the consent of Yang di-Pertuan Agong on Jan 29, last year. In June, it was reported that "… the final report and recommendations of the Royal Commission of Inquiry on the discovery of transit camps and mass graves in Wang Kelian will be presented to Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri'ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah in early September…".
According to media reports, the RCI’s 17-day inquiry did hear the evidence of 48 witnesses since April 17.
Madpet believes the RCI report, once completed, should be made public and sent speedily to the cabinet and government for immediate action, including the prosecution of those who committed the crimes or tampered with evidence.
RCI reports in the past usually have been made public, and this raises the question of why this RCI report has yet to reach public domain.
We recall the disturbing findings following an "… exhaustive, two-year investigation by the New Straits Times Special Probes Team into the mass killings in Wang Kelian in 2015 that shook the world, has revealed startling new evidence, which suggests a massive, coordinated cover-up… One of the biggest revelations was that the human trafficking death camps had been discovered months earlier, but police only announced the discovery on May 25… (New Straits Times).
Another huge question mark was why did the police order the destruction of these camps, which were potential crime scenes before they could be processed by forensics personnel?
One shocking discovery was that the authorities, particularly the Perlis police, knew the existence of these jungle camps in Wang Kelian in January 2015, but had allegedly chosen not to do anything about them until six months later.
According to the NST report, "A report lodged by one of the police’s own, identified as ASP JK on Jan 19, 2015, at 10.15pm, among others, stated that the raiding team saw six cages, where scores of men and women were packed inside under the watchful eyes of foreign men armed with M-16 rifles. The gunmen also conducted roving patrols around the campsite. The team moved in about 4.30pm that day and detained 38 human trafficking victims (22 Bangladeshis and 16 Myanmar nationals.
According to the official after-action report, an estimated 150 people, who were caged up earlier, had escaped into the jungle during the raid."
How the men and women managed to “escape” the assault team remains unknown.
The report also identified a local, suffering from vitiligo — who had been acting as the middleman. Eleven more locals, whose role was to “deliver the goods”, were also identified.
The report on the Bukit Wang Burma raid stated that the local middleman, who had been detained, had admitted to "greasing the palms" of personnel in border security agencies to ensure that his operation could continue unmolested.
“Many of these agencies are highly involved in human trafficking, and this is a serious trans-border crime that cannot be eliminated by arresting illegal immigrants and deporting them," the document stated.
“For as long as the authorities are working hand-in-glove with these syndicates, eradicating this problem will be an uphill battle.”
The NST Special Probes Team was let in on a March discovery of another camp in Bukit Genting Perah, known as one of the largest human trafficking camps in Wang Kelian.
This startling find was revealed by a team of highly-trained men, including commandos, who were involved in a snatch-and-grab mission.
"One by one, the commandos would grab and quickly overpower their targets, and then slip stealthily back into the cover of darkness. With all five foreign men in custody, the team regrouped and made their way down the hill."
The Wang Kelian issue also raised corruption concerns, which may involve persons tasked with enforcing the law.
What happened to the suspects who were arrested? What happened to the 38 human trafficking victims’ rescued? Why was there not a speedy trial, more so since many of these suspects were caught red-handed and the witnesses were available?
The previous BN government seems to have failed in ensuring justice be done.
The new Pakatan Harapan government, after coming into power, did act by setting up the RCI but delay in making public the final RCI report raises concern and questions.
Madpet urges a speedy investigation and prosecution of all suspects involved in crimes, among others, murder, kidnapping, human trafficking, torture, corruption, abetment, concealing design to commit an offence and tampering with evidence, would have been best – more so since it involved foreign victims.
This should have been done speedily by the public prosecutor, police and relevant enforcement agencies. As time passes, witnesses’ memory fade and contact with some may also be lost.
No one, including public officers or politicians, should be above the law. Crime does not have any limitation, and all those persons suspected could still be charged.
There is a concern as to what happened to all the arrested suspects and all potential victim-witnesses, including those released from the cages.
The use of detention without trial laws is not only unjust but also can be a means where the truth could be hidden from the public, especially if it involves "powerful" persons and highly-ranked officials.
Only a public trial will suffice.
Whenever the police or other enforcement agencies are involved, as is happening now in the alleged "enforced disappearance" cases of Pastor Koh and Amri Che Mat where police officers were implicated, will this be the position adopted by this new Harapan government?
At the very least, the public prosecutor could have made a statement on the status of the investigation, even if it was a statement that no one could be charged at the moment due to insufficient evidence.
This would appease us, knowing that Wang Kelian has not been forgotten.
Wang Kelian happened in 2015, and the new government came into power in mid-2018, which is about 20 months ago.
Madpet urges immediate publication of the RCI report. Transparency and accountability demand this. There must be no further delays or cover-ups.
We urge the public prosecutor, the police, MACC and other relevant agencies to take swift action.
Madpet also calls on the attorney-general to explain the status of the investigation and prosecution of those suspected of crimes related to the Wang Kelian case, as there is no need to wait for any RCI report or cabinet direction when it comes to enforcing the law and ensuring justice is served.
Laws should be amended to provide for the cost, including travel and board, to bring back foreign victims/witnesses, if needed, to trials of persons accused of crimes that happened in Wang Kelian.
Non-availability of witnesses because of no "financial allocation" should never be a justification for not prosecuting perpetrators of crime. - Malaysiakini, 14/2/2020
Release RCI findings on Wang Kelian, rights group urges govt
PETALING JAYA: A foreign human rights group has urged Putrajaya to release the royal commission of inquiry’s (RCI) findings on the mass graves discovered in Wang Kelian, Perlis, five years ago.
Fortify Rights said Malaysians and survivors deserved to gain access to the findings of the final report, adding that this was about truth, justice and accountability.
“The RCI was mandated to help bring perpetrators to justice, and that hasn’t happened. The government must act.
“There have been no changes in policy and not even a formal public reckoning of the crimes committed,” its CEO, Matthew Smith, said in a statement today, in conjunction with the group’s release of a short film on the Wang Kelian mass graves.
The NGO said then home minister Muhyiddin Yassin had announced in January this year the report will be presented to the Cabinet before deciding on making the findings public.
“There has been no further information about the report following this announcement,” it said, adding that it has been about a year since the RCI submitted its report to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.
Fortify Rights highlighted the different reaction that Thailand had after the discovery of similar mass graves in 2015, with the Thai courts in 2017 convicting 62 individuals, including nine government officials, for trafficking Rohingya and Bangladeshis to Malaysia through Thailand.
On the other hand, it said Malaysian courts have only convicted four individuals for trafficking-related offences over the Wang Kelian mass graves, with none of them comprising Malaysians.
It also said Malaysia was classified as a “Tier-2 Watchlist” country in the US 2020 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report, the second-lowest ranking, taking into account the Wang Kelian issue.
“Despite allegations of official complicity in migrant smuggling and trafficking crimes in relation to the 2015 discovery of migrant camps and mass graves in Wang Kelian, authorities have not brought charges against any Malaysian official or private citizen,” said the 2020 TIP report.
More than 100 skeletal remains believed to be those of Rohingya refugees and close to 150 graves were discovered in the hills of the border town in 2015.
The RCI was led by former chief justice Arifin Zakaria, aided by panel members Noorbahri Baharuddin, Razali Ismail, Junaidah Abd Rahman, Nazirah Hussain and Tan Seng Giaw.
Although four individuals were charged in court over the matter, critics said these were only small-time traffickers. - FMT, 16/9/2020
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