Perlis Killing Fields

A picture of an abandoned human trafficking camp in Wang Kelian, Perlis. The Malaysian Insider file pic, May 30, 2015.

An abandoned migrant camp used by people-smugglers at Bukit Wang Burma. Photograph: Mohd Rasfan/AFP/Getty Images

Source: Malay Mail

A Royal Malaysian Police forensic team handles exhumed human remains in a jungle at Bukit Wang Burma. Photograph: Mohd Rasfan/AFP/Getty Images

Source: Free Malaysia Today

On May 25, 2015, Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar announced the detection of 139 graves at 28 human trafficking transit camps located between Kampung Wai and Tangga 100 Felcra in Perlis, Malaysia. 

Home Minister, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi voiced his own suspicion that the camps have been operating for at least five years.

 

The discovery of mass graves in the thick jungle near the Malaysian border in Perlis proves that Malaysia is a hotspot for human trafficking. The world has its suspicions for some time but the government have loudly protested and repeatedly refuted it.

 

Both the IGP and the home minister were vociferous in their denials regarding the existence of human trafficking in Malaysia but the mass graves and holding camps prove that they have been lying or that they are totally incompetent. I reckon it is both.

 

Whatever it is, it is almost impossible to believe the authorities were not aware. Unless the whole security infrastructure at the Malaysian-Thai border has been compromised – regrettably, this is also very believable.

 

The burial grounds marked the most direct evidence yet of a brutal and large-scale human-trafficking trade on Malaysian soil. Shame on Malaysia!

 

“These jungle camps, and the brutality inflicted on people held there, were hardly a secret on either side of the border. The only way these kinds of camps could operate was with the support of military, police and politicians who were either directly involved or were paid to look the other way”, said Phil Robertson, deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Asia division.

 

“This was a buffet feast of corruption at which so many people had a seat at the table, but so far only the local, lower-ranking persons have been arrested, and the major patrons who were at the head of the table are still free. Leaders in both Malaysia and Thailand need to demonstrate the political will to act and hold accountable all those involved, regardless of rank or status, or this horrific trade may resurface once the media limelight moves somewhere else”.

 

Aegile Fernandez, of Malaysian migrant-rights group Tenaganita said, “For trafficking to grow to the scale that it did, you must have strong players. You need traffickers, authorities and also local people to be involved”.

 

The gruesome discoveries are the latest shocking development in Asia’s migrant crisis, which has exposed the plights of Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar who say they are fleeing persecution and of Bangladeshis escaping poverty, brought by boat to the dense jungles of southern Thailand and northern Malaysia by people smugglers. This will only bring new attention on Malaysia’s record in battling a scourge that activists say is carried out by criminal syndicates, and most likely with the complicity of authorities. All for profit.

 

Southeast Asian governments have been scrambling to deal with the thousands of migrants left adrift by smugglers in the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea in the last couple of weeks. More than 3,000 migrants have swum ashore or been rescued off Malaysia and Indonesia in May alone.

 

A human tragedy is unfolding right in our very own backyard. Sad.