KUALA LUMPUR: Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail has been criticised for his "unethical and irresponsible" denial of claims of inhumane treatment at the Kimanis Immigration detention centre in Sabah.
A group of Indonesian non-governmental organisations, known as Sovereign Migrant Workers Coalition (KBMB), said Saifuddin was "devoid of empathy" when asked to comment on a video showing a frail man talking about allegedly poor conditions at the detention centre.
Saifuddin was reported to have said on Friday that the man in the video was already in poor health before being detained.
According to the man in the video, detainees did not get enough food and drink, and Immigration officers refused their requests for medication.
"The minister's statement that denied the poor handling of Immigration centres had led to deaths of detainees, was unethical, irresponsible and lacking in empathy," KBMB said in a statement.
The NGOs criticised the Sabah Immigration Department for its recent statement that no detainees were mistreated in Kimanis, which contradicts its own findings.
Sabah Immigration director Sitti Saleha Habib Yusoff on Friday had said detainees were managed according to the law in Sabah.
She said the department ensured all detainees received food and medical care.
KBMB, however, claimed that after interviewing deportees, it had discovered that some had contracted various diseases while detained, which led to deaths.
"These deaths could have been prevented if the Malaysian government upheld human rights — especially those of migrants — in handling an Immigration depot," the statement read.
The group said denials of ill-treatment by Saifuddin and Sitti Saleha did not reflect the findings of its investigations.