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A
malnourished Filipino girl receives medical attention on board the
Philippine naval ship Barcolod City at Sandakan port in Malaysia's
Borneo state of Sabah
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Report
By Kazi Mahmood, IOL South Asia Correspondent
KUALA
LUMPUR, September 1 (IslamOnline) - A human tragedy has followed the
expulsion of illegal immigrants from Malaysia, with the death of
children from the Philippines and more than 50 illegal Indonesian
workers and their children succumbing to the harshness of refugee
camps in Indonesia, news agencies said on Sunday.
The
tragedy has taken a different shape, diverting it from the political
battle of last week in the streets of Jakarta and Manila where
anti-Malaysian demonstrators lambasted Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad
for his strict enforcement of new laws regarding illegal workers in
his country.
The
diplomatic shuttle has been put to march but the facts in the camps in
both Indonesia and the Philippines has a huge impact on the spirit of
the people of both nations, IslamOnline was told.
The
Jakarta Post said on Sunday that aids workers has called the situation
as a national disaster. As many as 40,000 workers are stranded in
camps around the East Kalimantan town of Nunukan, near the border with
Malaysia's Sabah state, some 1,700 kilometers northeast of Jakarta.
"This
is a national disaster. There is even one camp near a garbage dump
where illegal workers are sleeping with maggots," said Ade
Rostina, a coordinator for non-governmental organizations trying to
help the workers, adding she feared the toll would rise, reports the
Post.
In
both Indonesia and Philippines, the expulsion of the illegal workers
after years of deep tolerance has been received as a shock, many of
them have already started to live as Malaysians. The sudden approach
of the deadline in August caused a rush back to these countries and
the glut it created in the camps is the result of the current crisis.
The
relief workers in both countries fear that food shortages were also a
problem for the refugees and that the two countries are submerged with
the sudden influx of people. "Obviously no one took it seriously
that Malaysia will really apply the laws with such strict
enforcement...and the canning is now a political issue too," one
Indonesian working in a restaurant in Kuala Lumpur told IslamOnline.
Based
on data collated by Rostina cited by Reuters, nearly 50 people had
died in the past month from a range of illnesses, such as diarrhea.
The list included the names of at least a dozen babies and a similar
number of older children. The death of babies in Philippines, on their
journey back from Malaysia, caused a stir in the country.
It
also brought several key people to re-open the issue of claims by the
Philippines on the states of Sabah and Sarawak that were annexed to
Malaysia soon after Malaya was dismantled and became the federal
states of Malaysia. The Philippines and Indonesia had hopes Sabah and
Sarawak would be theirs and this has become a political issue between
the three countries ever since.
However
Manila said the expulsion of the workers and immigrants would not
force the Philippine to claim the two territories, amid calls for a
boycott of Malaysian products.
President
Macapagal-Arroyo tried on Saturday to defuse rising public anger
against Kuala Lumpur and rejected calls to press the country’s claim
to Sabah.
The
President also announced she would send an official mission to
Malaysia to thresh out the details of the “substantial agreement”
she forged with Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad.
In
Malaysia, wire agencies said Mahathir was trying to ease tensions in
inviting Philippine officials to investigate the alleged deaths of
infants in deportation centers, Manila Times said.
Mahathir
reportedly told a news conference that, “I’m trying to resolve
this thing in a rational way, so if they say we are ill-treating the
Filipinos, let them come and see.”
In
Indonesia and the Philippines, popular anger has grown over the
policies of their wealthier neighbor and the Indonesian deaths follow
reports of alleged deaths of 13 infants during a crackdown on illegal
Filipino workers.
Migrante
International yesterday called on Filipinos to boycott all products
and companies of Malaysia.
At
the same time, Migrante urged President Macapagal-Arroyo to recall the
Filipino Ambassador to Malaysia and soon-to-be Foreign Affairs
Undersecretary Jose Brillantes, for miserably failing to check the
welfare of the Filipinos in Malaysia.
Migrante
said an alliance of 82 migrant groups would campaign for the boycott
of Malaysian services and products, including the Malaysian Airlines.
The
influential Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines earlier
lambasted the government for issuing a weak protest, saying it was
extremely dissatisfied on the way government is handling the matter.
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