Home Ministry, PSSCs to improve deportation SOPs: Wong Chen

Hariz Mohd

Published: Nov 22, 2024 2:12 PM | Updated: 3:30 PM

The Home Ministry has agreed to improve its standard operating procedures (SOPs) for deporting immigration offenders, according to Subang Jaya MP Wong Chen.

This comes after a recent parliamentary hearing on the case of Nuon Toeun, a Cambodian domestic worker who was arrested and deported by the Immigration Department last month, following a request by her home country.

Nuon was wanted by the Cambodian government after she allegedly posted comments critical of the country’s leadership on social media.

Wong told reporters this morning that the official version given by immigration officers during the joint hearing, held by two Parliament Special Select Committees (PSSCs), was that Nuon was deported for violating the country’s immigration laws.

This, he said, happened when the Cambodian government cancelled her passport which automatically affected her work permit here and made her stay in Malaysia illegal.

“But, the backstory to this is, the Immigration Department had been receiving diplomatic notes from the Cambodian government seeking them to send Nuon back,” the PKR representative said in a press briefing session organised by migrant rights groups North-South Initiative (NSI) and Altsean Burma.

Nuon was reportedly sent back to Cambodia within two days after she was picked up by immigration authorities, Wong added, without even being given access to a lawyer and natural justice process.

“We can’t turn back the clock. We know she has since been arrested and locked in a detention centre in Cambodia.

“But we have to do something here. The SOP the government uses in dealing with this matter must be revisited to allow natural justice.

“The good news from this really bad story is that now the Immigration Department and the Home Ministry have agreed with us that some element of natural justice must be in place. Thus, we agree to work together,” he said.

Allowing natural justice

The two committees that held the joint hearing on Nuon’s case were the PSSC on Human Rights, Election and Institutional Reforms chaired by Selayang MP William Leong, and the PSSC on International Relations and Trade led by Wong.

It was done on Nov 12. Also involved was Bukit Bendera MP Syerleena Abdul Rashid, who chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Refugee Policy.

According to Wong, the committees are drafting their proposal for an improved SOP for the immigration authority while Putrajaya is also working on their version.

The committees hope they can meet the government before the end of the current Dewan Rakyat session on Dec 12 to discuss the new SOP.

Wong said the improvements that are needed include properly informing a person being arrested for deportation of all their rights, and they must be given immediate access to a lawyer.

A person being deported also should be given adequate time before they are sent back, and should they choose to challenge the deportation order, Wong said they should have the right to do so.

“And once a deportation order is challenged in court, it should be left to the court to decide,” he said.

Legal justice for all

During the press briefing session, NSI and Altsean Burman jointly urged the government to stop cooperating with “regional dictators and military regimes, particularly around issues of immigration and deportation”.

They said Putrajaya must establish a clear legal and procedural framework to protect asylum seekers who are facing the risk of transnational repression.

“We call on the government to provide access to asylum to those at risk and stop the deportation of refugees and activists to countries where they face serious threats to their person.

“The government also must ensure legal justice for all, by providing full access to proper legal representation and living conditions for arrested migrants and refugees,” their statement said.

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