Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK) strongly condemns the arrest of Bangladeshi migrant Raihan Kabirfor his portraying of the real picture of the Malaysian government’s repressive treatment of migrants in Malaysia in the media. ASK also demands that the Bangladesh government to provide legal assistance to Raihan.
On 3 July, the international news media, Al-Jazeera broadcasted an investigative report titled‘Locked-up in Malaysian Lockdown-101 East’. In this report, Raihan Kabir, a Bangladeshi immigrant to Malaysia, provided an interview. In this interview, he painted a picture of how the Malaysian government was discriminating against migrants at the time of the pandemic through the Movement Control Order (MCO). The Malaysian government arrested him shortly after the report was broadcasted. Domestic and foreign human rights organisations strongly protested against the arrest. National human rights groups called on the Bangladesh government to extend all possible assistance to Raihan. However, recently, the government’s Minister for ExpatriateWelfare and Overseas Employment emphasised the government’s responsibility to the country, saying that the government should not risk the entire labor market by taking a stand on Raihan. Such a comment from a responsible person of the government is unfortunate.
ASK thinks Raihan did not commit any crime by portraying the picture of discrimination towards them in media interviews. The Bangladeshi government must protest against the Malaysian government’s decision to impose an unjust policy on immigrants, and provide legal assistance to Raihan. ASK urges the government to take immediate action in this regard.