Immigration Dept searching for migrant interviewee in Al Jazeera report
The Immigration Department is searching for the Bangladeshi national who appeared in the contentious Al Jazeera documentary, "Locked Up in Malaysia’s Lockdown" recently.
In a statement, the department said they are on the lookout for Md Rayhan Kabir, aged 25, to assist with its probe under the Immigration Act 1959/63.
Rayhan’s last known address is listed as Menara Uncang Emas, Jalan Loke Yew in Kuala Lumpur.
“Members of the public with information can call Immigration assistant director (Operations Investigations and Prosecution) Nurulmasha Nazlinan Hussin, at 03-8880 1298 / 1294 during office hours or the operations room at 03-8880 1555 after office hours," the statement read today.
With the search notice, the department included an image of Rayhan featuring a beard and clean-shaven.
This comes as police have opened investigations into the documentary after several reports were lodged against it.
The documentary was aired on the international news agency’s 101 East programme last weekend. It highlighted the government crackdown and handling of undocumented migrants during the movement control order (MCO) in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Since its airing, many netizens have taken to social media to call out the alleged misrepresentation of facts in the report, with calls for the reporters and Rayhan to be deported. Some have even taken to doxxing the latter, by revealing his purported known locations and place of work.
Meanwhile, the National Security Council (NSC), which is coordinating Malaysia's response to the Covid-19 outbreak, issued a warning that migrants risked having their immigration passes cancelled if they made “inaccurate statements” against the country.
“The Immigration Department is giving a strict warning that it will cancel pass approvals issued to foreign nationals should they issue inaccurate statements with the intention of damaging the country’s image,” the post read.
"Locked Up in Malaysia’s Lockdown" highlighted the cramped conditions under which migrants were housed. The documentary questioned if this was the “practical reality of dealing with the pandemic or is it racism?”.
Aside from Rayhan, the segment included interviews with other migrants - both documented and undocumented - NGOs, civil society organisations, and trade associations.
It's worth noting that Al Jazeera claimed in its report that they reached out to Defence Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob, Home Minister Hamzah Zainuddin, and their deputies for comments, but their requests were not entertained.
Ismail is also the senior minister overseeing the security cluster.
However, Ismail has denied accusations of racism against the government action and demanded the news agency apologise, while Hamzah maintained that the authorities acted within the law, as well as according to the people’s wishes.
The racism claims were also denied by Health Minister Dr Adham Baba.
