MIGRANT WATCH
Migrante Presses Boycott of Malaysian Airlines, Other Products

The Philippines’ biggest alliance of migrant workers has called for a boycott of the Malaysian Airlines and other products to protest the forced deportation of thousands of Filipinos from Sabah. The boycott was called on the heels of the Arroyo government’s apparent impotence in protecting the rights of the Filipinos several of whom -mostly children - have died while under detention or deportation.

By Bulatlat.com  

BONGGAO, Tawi-tawi-- A Muslim woman feeds her children as they wait to disbark from the Philippine Navy ship BRP Dagupan City. Some 1,450 Filipinos deported from Malaysia arrived aboard BRP Dagupan City in Bonggao August 27. Photo by Froilan Gallardo

Migrante, a broad global alliance of more than 82 migrant groups, over the weekend pressed for the boycott of Malaysian Airlines and other Malaysian services and products to dramatize the Filipinos’ protest against the inhumane treatment of their compatriots by the Kuala Lumpur government.

In a news conference in Quezon City, Poe Gratela, Migrante-International secretary general, said the boycott is a protest against the inhumane treatment suffered by thousands of Filipinos at the hands of the government of Prime Minister Mahathir.

The Malaysian government's intensified crackdown and deportation of Filipinos has resulted in the deaths of 18 infants, five adults and hundreds more subjected to dehydration, malnutrition and other illnesses while under detention in Sabah. Reports said 64,000 Filipinos have been forced out of Sabah since last February. Six thousands more await deportation in Malaysian holding camps.

In a news conference in Quezon City, Poe Gratele, secretary-general, and other leaders of Migrante International unveiled a row of small, black coffins to symbolize the death of the Filipino children during deportation.

"The Malaysian government is guilty of gross human rights violations committed against the Filipino and other migrants,” Gratela said. “For this, they deserve our strongest economic and political condemnation."

Migrante International also asked President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to recall Ambassador Chito Brilliantes from Kuala Lumpur and conduct an independent on-site fact-finding mission immediately.

Tragedy

 “This tragedy has been brewing for the past several months,” the Migrante secretary general said. “Clearly, Ambassador Brilliantes has been negligent and inutile in protecting the rights of our compatriots in that country."

Migrante had earlier protested Brilliantes' new appointment as Department of Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for Migrant Workers.

Gratela also lambasted Macapagal-Arroyo over her role in the latest tragedy. He said the president knew months beforehand about the condition of thousands of Filipinos in Sabah. “However, instead of focusing on the urgent plight of Filipinos there, she chose to kowtow to whatever U.S. President Bush was dictating regarding Balikatan and the US' increased military presence in the Philippines," he said.

In Hony Kong, meanwhile, the Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants (APMM) also condemned the inhumane treatment of Filipino migrants in Sabah.

The Malaysian government's treatment of foreign migrants is not surprising, APMM said in a news release. Malaysia, the group said, is only one of so-called democracies in Asia that maintain the Internal Security Act (ISA). A draconian rule, ISA allows the arrest and imprisonment without warrant of arrest of anyone who is suspected to be a threat to the Malaysian government. Bulatlat.com 

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