KUALA LUMPUR: The Home Ministry has no problem with allowing the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) staff to visit detainees housed at Immigration detention depots.
Its minister, Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution, said the ministry has good working ties with UNCHR.
The matter, said Saifuddin, was reflected and demonstrated during previous discussions between UNCHR and the ministry.
"There are ongoing efforts to realise the exchange of information between the ministry and UNCHR.
"There were things sought by them that we will reciprocate. In exchange, there are things that we sought which they will reciprocate.
"The matters include the permission (request from UNCHR) to visit (the depots). At the moment, there is no issue with that," he said here after visiting the General Operations Force's Central Brigade headquarters in Cheras near here today.
Saifuddin was responding to the statement by UNCHR, which earlier this month, expressed its concern over the incident at the temporary Immigration depot in Bidor, where 131 detainees managed to escape during riots.
According to UNHCR, it has not been able to get approval from Immigration authorities to access detention centres since August 2018.
Saifuddin said the operation to arrest illegal immigrants who escaped from the depot is ongoing.
To date, he said 101 illegal immigrants have been re-arrested by the police.
He added that two of the illegal immigrants were killed in a road accident.
"We have stopped mounting roadblocks to re-arrest the remaining immigrants who escaped from the depot.
"Instead, we will act based on information received from the public.
"For example, people will inform us if they stumble upon the immigrants in their villages."
Saifuddin admitted that there were weaknesses in the depot's security system since it used to be one of the camps for the national service training programme.
"Illegal immigrants who were re-arrested are now held in another location.
"We are determining if the premises can still be maintained as a detention depot.
"At the same time, we are identifying those responsible for the incident."
The police, on Feb 2, confirmed that 131 illegal immigrants from Myanmar escaped from the depot.
Tapah district police chief Superintendent Mohd Naim Asnawi was quoted as saying that there was a riot inside the male block and that all detainees managed to escape the facility.
