The horrendous treatment of Rayhan Kabir

I urge the Director-General of Jabatan Imigresen Malaysia, Dato' Indera Khairul Dzaimee Daud to reconsider the revocation of Md Rayhan Kabir’s work permit. I see no justification for the order to do so under Section 9 of the Immigration Act 1959/63 and I am confident that a court of law would agree with my point of view as well.

The Bangladeshi citizen who has stayed in Malaysia for 6 years came forward willingly to share his views to Al Jazeera English about our Government's treatment of migrants during the Movement Control Order (MCO) at a time when migrants such as himself are facing tremendous public scrutiny and unwarranted hate.

His role in the Al Jazeera documentary has been overstated.

Rayhan Kabir did not edit the Al-Jazeera video. He did not have a say in its production or the excerpts of his full interview that would end up on the final cut of the documentary.

He simply appeared for several minutes in a nearly 26 minute documentary, sharing the situation that his friend was currently facing and his personal view of that situation.

Despite the relatively harmless nature of the documentary and the statements that he made, his work permit is now revoked and he is being summoned by the Immigration Department for deportation.

Would he mind returning back to his home country? After the way he and his friend are being treated here, I think perhaps not.

However, I am utterly disappointed at the fact that he would very likely (if found by the Malaysian Immigration Department) be arrested and sent to a detention centre for close to 3 weeks or more pending his deportation to Bangladesh.

To put this into context, if you plead guilty to possessing a relatively small amount of drugs (section 12(2),12(3) of the DDA), you could get away with a fine with no time spent in prison.

On the other hand, if you got conned by an agent into believing that you will be employed in Malaysia with valid documentation but upon arriving, your passport is withheld from you and you are hence unable to produce these documents upon inspection, you may serve time in prison for a few months before being placed in a detention centre for close to 3 weeks or more. If nobody knows you are in the detention centre and if you have no money to pay the flight ticket home, you will remain there for an indefinite period of time.

Even one day of a person's liberty being deprived is a serious matter, whether in a detention centre or a prison, especially when the conditions of those places of detention are questionable. Perhaps our country should consider allowing bail pending deportation on a case-by-case basis.

The focus of punishment should be redirected instead towards the dishonest agents, traffickers, and companies that are complicit in bringing in these migrants through illegal channels and exploiting them.

I would urge anyone reading this to watch the documentary and ask if Rayhan Kabir did anything wrong in speaking his mind. We must understand that Rayhan Kabir is not a lawyer or a policy maker and he may or may not have an in-depth understanding of law enforcement in our country. Some people may disagree with his statements but despite this, we cannot invalidate his emotions. They are his emotions and for him, he feels that justice has not been served in this particular situation.

It is only mature for us as a society to recognise that the law may not always be just but it is our freedom to question the nature of such laws that has been a key factor in our society progressing forward. The abolition of slavery, the enfranchisement of women and the very independence of our country were positions contrary to law in the past.

The Al Jazeera documentary now presents us with another position to reconsider: Should there be an alternative to locking up illegal immigrants in detention centres for unspecified periods of time pending their deportation? Could there not be a more humane and dignified way in law when it comes to the treatment of undocumented migrants especially during a pandemic?

Punishing someone for criticism does not provide a counter-argument. In this case, it only serves to ironically highlight the criticism even more. If the Government wishes to dispel the allegations that have been raised by the documentary, it should have responded appropriately to Al-Jazeera's request for comments and take up the present offer to clear the air; not encourage criminal investigations.

I stand in solidarity with Rayman Kabir, the journalists involved in the Al-Jazeera documentary and the hundreds of undocumented migrants whose only motive in coming to Malaysia is to seek a better life for their family and themselves.

There are many people that would simply frame this whole saga as a 'legal entry' vs 'illegal entry' issue. While we should support and encourage the legal entry of migrants with the proper documentation, I am not naive enough to pretend that the situation is as simple as that.

It is a multi-layered and complex issue especially when one takes into consideration refugees and victims of human trafficking, whose lack of proper documentation is commonplace (there are laws providing protection for victims of trafficking but it is often difficult to identify and distinguish these victims).

In the current situation concerning Rayhan Kabir, he came into the country through legal means and was working here with a valid permit. The only mistake he did was to believe that our country would be mature and receptive enough to accept his criticism.

Thoughts and opinions cannot be controlled through enforced silence. It is only with discussion and discourse that we can begin to reach a common ground and discover the truth.

Photo by Bernama