Home Ministry to probe Cambodian villages claim
KUANTAN: The Home Ministry will launch an investigation into the alleged existence of illegal Cambodian immigrants at several settlements in Pekan.
Deputy Home Minister Datuk Mohd Azis Jamman said the ministry would instruct the relevant authorities, including the Immigration Department, to investigate and verify the allegations.
“At the moment, we do not have much information on the issue, so we will have to investigate.
“Yes, the relevant departments will be instructed to check (the allegations),” he said after opening the
Malaysian
Maritime Enforcement
Agency’s 14th anniversary celebrations at Sultan Ahmad Shah Maritime Academy here yesterday.
He was asked to comment on reports that Champa Muslims, or Cham Muslims, who fled Cambodia in the late 1970s, have ended up as refugees in Pahang and that some were living in Pekan without proper documents.
It was reported that a majority of them did not have identification papers, while some possessed United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees cards, red identity cards and work permits (to live in Malaysia).
The matter came to light after the decomposed body of Siti Masitah Ibrahim, 11, was found near bushes in Tanjung Medang Kemahang in Pekan on Feb 9.
Her parents — Ibrahim Ali, 39, and Solihah Abdullah, 35 — along with the 23-year-old suspect who has been remanded, do not have identification documents or permanent resident cards.
The girl’s body was found in a badly decomposed state in an oil palm plantation. She had gone missing on Jan 30.
Cham Muslims are those who escaped from Khmer Rouge atrocities in Cambodia in the 1970s and ended up in Malaysia, with some choosing Pahang to start a new life as refugees.