‘3,000 Tamils languishing in Malaysian prisons’

By G Saravanan

Published in The New Indian Express, Chennai, on February 13, 2011:

Source:http://expressbuzz.com/states/tamilnadu/%E2%80%983000-tamils-languishing-in-malaysian-prisons%E2%80%99/247614.html

CHENNAI: About 3,000 labourers from different parts of Tamil Nadu are languishing in six camps in Malaysia, despite serving their prison terms there. Sources said the Indian High Commission in Kuala Lumpur has been turning a blind eye to the sufferings of these workers.

According to sources, an estimated 3,000 Tamil labourers have been leading a “hellish” life at the camps located at Penang, Langkawi, Pahang, Johor, Selangor and Sembilan, after being picked up by the Malaysian police for visa-related issues from across the country.

With the intervention of local social worker Kamalanathan and consistent media coverage of the workers’ sufferings, a delegation of Indian High Commission officials finally visited Lingi camp at Sembilan recently.

Later, seven persons were released from the this camp and they returned to Chennai a few days ago.

Speaking to Express, S Sivasomasundaram, secretary of Migrant Employees Education for Transformation, Prevention and Protection Union (MEETPPU), who provided the address details of the released men, said, “When we came to know about the plight of Tamil workers at Lingi camp from some foreign nationals, we approached the High Commission with Kamalanathan’s help. At last, they have got back to India.”

Sivasomasundaram alleged that most of the workers were languishing in Malaysian camps due to the callous attitude of the High Commission, though they have served their sentences for expired visas.

The officials never bothered to visit these camps to rescue and repatriate them, he lamented.

Sekar, one of the six returnees, had gone to Malaysia in 2002 with a valid work permit (gardener).

The Malay police arrested him in 2007 for not possessing relevant papers and a local court sentenced him to four months’ imprisonment.

Though Sekar could have been released after four months, he was able to come out only after three years as the High Commission turned a blind eye to the request of Malaysian authorities to rescue him from the camp.

Besides Siva, all the returned men appealed to the State government and the Centre to rescue the Tamils languishing in camps.