There is something deeply sad about a student dying in the foreign land that he had traveled to study. Journeys such as his are meant to end with his return to his homeland carrying the parchments of his qualifications. The journey is often made with great sacrifice by parents, but with the expectation that when the student returns with his new qualifications there will be a restoration for the family and new hope for those who are born after him. It is a story that we are very familiar with in this country, either as the journeying student or as the providing parent - the story of placing all hope on one and waiting. The immense sadness in learning that death in a foreign land has taken with it all hope is simply indescribable.
The death of Nigerian student Orhions Thomas from the Limkokwing University would have been a tragedy however his death had occurred, but to learn that it happened in the custody of the Immigration Department raises such anger that it even subordinates the tragedy.
Malaysians are no less racist than others, especially when it comes to people from Africa. Black is not a favored color with us. Our enforcement officers carry our prejudices. 20 years ago, there were two groups of students from the same college living in the same block of apartments, off Old Klang Road. One group was from Denmark and the other from Zanzibar. Regulalry, when the two groups walked down the road to the point where the college buses waited for them, the police would come by and pick up the Zanzibaris for questioning. The fact they were World Bank-sponsored scholars and Muslims made no difference. The Danish students were never molested. Apart from being racists, we also cringe to Europeans in a serious way. When the college protested, it was told that as they are Africans, they have to accept such actions by the police. The practices and the attitudes on which they are based continues unabated 20 years later and with more than 100, 000 foreign students coming to this country for their education. Our prejudices continue
The detention of students simply because they may have violated some immigration regulations is simply outrageous. You cannot criminalize carelessness. The arrest and detention of foreign students are not a once in a while occurrence. It is dangerous walking our streets if you are a student, even if you have a Student Visa Pass issued by the Immigration Department. Every college and university has a tale to tell about the privations foreign students are subjected to. This country invites students from around the world. We promise them a safe place, far from wars and other forms of brutalities. There are strict rules to filter the real students from those coming in for work and other reasons. If with all those regulations, we still lack the confidence in treating everyone fairly, we may as well close our borders completely. It is far worse to invite them, promising them safety and have them die in such circumstances than to not allow anyone coming in at all. The shame of it all.
Mutterings on Education
This is appalling. I didn't know that Africans were targeted in this way
ReplyDeleteI have been hearing of such abhorrent treatment of foreign students in Malaysia for quite a few years. This is the first time I hearing of a death in custody though. This goes way beyond the pale. It paints Malaysia in a very bad light. It’s time fair-minded Malaysians to put their foot down on this issue.
ReplyDeleteI am no lawyer, but I do think that an independent body should be set up set up to oversee the Immigration Department over their handling of foreign students, with the necessary teeth to bring perpetrators to justice.
First off, I would like to say that this piece ought to be circulated widely if only to prick whatever passes for a working conscience among the country's political elite. I had an early warning of "official" racism U.K.M describes when I was in charge of a government preparatory program in the mid-Eighties - during the course of which I had to review applications from interested American faculty and induct the successful ones into the local programs. An unwritten rule which was whispered to me at the beginning of each recruitment cycle by the government representative was that owing to reasons of "culture shock", the incoming faculty should not include African Americans.
ReplyDeleteThirty five years or so later we have the death of O.E Thomas on our hands ...blackened with institutionalised prejudice.