KUALA LUMPUR: The government’s decision to set up a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) to investigate the human trafficking death camps in Wang Kelian, Perlis, three years ago has been welcomed.
Lawyer and human rights activist Datuk Ambiga Sreenavasan said it was “a long time coming“, and commended the Pakatan Harapan government for making it happen.
“I believe this is one of the black marks in the country’s history. I believe this will address many issues on trafficking, border security and corruption.
“I am hoping that we will have some answers and am hoping that it will also reveal the perpetrators behind these heinous crimes,” she told the New Straits Times.
Ambiga, who is a member of the International Commission of Jurists said she hoped that the RCI would come up with recommendations for combatting human trafficking.
She said she hoped that such abhorrent acts would never happen again in Malaysia.
Ambiga said witnesses who should be called up included former inspector-general of police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar, Immigration Department officials and representatives of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that dealt with trafficking problems in the country.
“The former IGP should definitely be a witness. I think some suggestions made shows that he may know a bit more than what has been said.
“Those who deal with or have knowledge of issues such as this such as NGOs and also victims and villagers (should also be called).”
Ambiga said it was also vital to bring in the journalists who broke the story about the Wang Kelian graves.
She said those who wrote the story had interviewed the villagers which revealed what they knew what was going on.
“The villagers should also be called as they obviously have a lot of information.” She said those those involved in the investigations three years ago, including low level officers, should also be called as witnesses.
“I hope the terms of reference for this case will be wide enough to include recommendations to prevent future events, and, at the same time, I hope the commission will seek guidance from the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) regarding this inquiry as well.”
In 2017, Ambiga, who was with the National Human Rights Society (Hakam), had raised a few questions that she felt the then Barisan Nasional-led government should answer.
“Why was the initial discovery of these death camps kept a secret? Who gave the orders to sanitise and destroy the crime scene, and why? Why were the Perlis police, who knew of the existence of these jungle camps, not held accountable for ignoring these victims?” she had asked in a statement.
On Sunday, Home Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said the RCI would allow the authorities to thoroughly investigate the tragedy, which had shocked the nation.
He said a discussion to propose the names of the commission members had been held, and the government was waiting for the consent of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.
He added that they had also determined a time frame for the report to be completed, which would also need the King’s consent.
Muhyiddin said the report would be completed within a six-month period.
The mass killings grabbed the headlines in May 2015 when police discovered 139 graves, 106 bodies, believed to be Rohingyas, and 29 illegal immigrant detention camps deep in the jungles of Bukit Genting Perah and Bukit Wang Burma, a few hundred metres from the Malaysia-Thai border in Wang Kelian.
The case was uncovered following an extensive two-year investigation by the New Straits Times Special Probes Team, which revealed startling evidence of a massive, coordinated cover-up of the killings.
Among other things, the NST probe revealed that the human trafficking death camps had been discovered months earlier, but police only announced the discovery on May 25, 2015.