Blog 3

My article this week takes me to Malaysia where there is a question of human rights. Migrant Care responded to five Indonesians who were shot by the Malaysian police, who claimed that the five men had criminal records in another country, and that they were illegal workers. Their deaths resulted from a shootout between them and the police force, who claimed that these allegations were true. However the director of Migrant Care, Anis Hidayah, commented saying, “Whatever documents they had—or didn’t have—the incident which caused their death, was a human rights violation. International standards clearly stipulate that the police are not allowed to shoot anyone dead, not even a criminal,” Anis also claimed that even if the workers were illegal that it didn’t justify the fact that they were killed.

            More was released about the shootout saying that the police were chasing the men in their vehicle until they were stopped near a cliff. When the men exited the vehicle they opened fire on the police men. After the police men had finished their fire on the men, they then searched the men and the car. The following day the bodies were inspected by the embassy at the Raja Permaisuri Bainoon hospital in Ipoh, Perak. Some people who either saw the pictures online or the bodies claimed that they look horrific. Some people even claimed that their organs look they have been harvested. Not only are the members of the men’s families affected by the shooting, but also members of the Malaysia society.

            Presented with this information you can’t help but wonder, “Were these men really illegal and a threat, or were the police just targeting them so some other reason, such as race?” According to Migrant Care, even if the men were guilty of being illegal workers they didn’t deserve to be shot and killed. However, there was no evidence that these men were illegal. So given the two ideas, and other influences, it’s hard to choose a side.