PETALING JAYA: A DAP MP has hit out at the Immigration Department over the delay in verifying with a local university the status of a Nigerian student who died at a detention centre on Tuesday.

Kasthuri Patto said that Orhions Ewansiha Thomas was detained on July 4 and died five days later.

The Batu Kawan MP said that period could have been used to contact the university to determine and certify the validity of his travel documents.

“The million-dollar question here is why the Immigration Department took five days to ascertain that Thomas was indeed a Limkokwing University student?”

She said in a statement that a “simple phone call, an email” or even a visit by an immigration officer could have facilitated his release earlier.

Kasthuri also took issue with the department for saying it was going to take two weeks to verify Thomas’s documents and details of his college records.

“Two weeks to do this? It is quite inconceivable, especially since a university like Limkokwing would have all these records online, instead of having to go through thousands of files manually, like in the old days.”

Kasthuri, who is a member of the Parliamentary Special Select Committee on Rights and Gender Equality, said if the Immigration Department had contacted the university directly, it would have rendered assistance immediately in this case.

Earlier today, the Immigration Department said Thomas died on July 9 after he was arrested along with 19 others during a raid at the Desa Aman Puri Apartment in Kepong, Selangor.

The PhD student’s death triggered a protest outside the Nigerian High Commission along Jalan Ampang here yesterday.

Kasthuri went on to say that while the Immigration Department claimed there was no breach in its standard operating procedures in Thomas’s detention, a proper review of the SOP was needed.

PETALING JAYA: Civil society group Tenaganita has called for a clean-up of detention centres in the country following the death in custody of a Nigerian student at the Bukit Jalil detention centre in Kuala Lumpur.

“We must give priority to really clean up our detention centres starting from the officers who are the front-liners,” Tenaganita executive director Glorene Das said.

This comes following the death on Tuesday of Nigerian student Orhions Ewansiha Thomas.

Nigerian daily PM News said that according to reports, Thomas, who was pursuing his PhD at a local university, was taken to a centre on Jalan Duta despite possessing valid documents.

It said he died while officers were verifying his papers ahead of his release.

However, in a statement today, the Immigration Department said no standard operating procedures had been breached.

It said Thomas was arrested with 19 others during a raid at the Desa Aman Puri Apartment in Kepong, Selangor, after residents complained about the presence of foreigners and their misbehaviour.

“The deceased did not give full cooperation during the operation. He tried to run when approached by the immigration officers,” it said.

The department said Thomas experienced a seizure prior to his death but denied any foul play. It said it is awaiting a report from Hospital Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.

Glorene said detainees should not be treated as criminals at detention centres for administrative and immigration-related offences.

“We call on the home ministry and Immigration Department to carry out a thorough investigation into the death of the student.

“We must makes changes now and not wait for another death,” she told FMT.

She said there was a need to look into the conditions at detention centres and how detainees were treated.

“We speak from experience, evidence and real-life incidents. Regardless of nationalities and backgrounds, many lives have been put in danger due to the conditions at these detention or holding centres,” she said.

Yesterday, a group of Nigerian nationals vented their frustrations over the treatment of their countrymen during a small but heated protest outside their country’s high commission on Jalan Ampang.

The protesters did not make any claims of misconduct by the Immigration Department but wanted their high commission to do more for to help the estimated 30,000 Nigerians in the country.

PUTRAJAYA, July 12 — Malaysia’s unemployment rate has dropped slightly to 3.3 per cent in May from 3.4 per cent in April this year, according to the Monthly Principal Statistics of Labour Force.

Commenting further, chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said that the number of unemployed persons recorded for the month of May was 519,800, a  0.7 per cent drop from a month ago.

He said the labour force participation rate in May, which has been stagnant at 68.5 per cent since February 2019, had increased by 0.1 per cent compared to the same month last year (68.4 per cent).

“The number of labour force recorded in May this year had also risen by 1.9 per cent to 15.64 million people compared to May last year,” he said in a statement here today.

During the same period, Mohd Uzir explained the number of employed persons had also increased by 1.8 per cent to 15.12 million people. — Bernama

KUALA LUMPUR, July 12 — Taxi drivers’ group Gabungan Teksi SeMalaysia (GTSM) has urged the Ministry of Transport (MOT) and its minister Anthony Loke to remain firm in enforcing the Public Service Vehicle (PSV) licence regulation on e-hailing drivers.

GTSM president Kamarudin Mohd Hussain said the ministry should not compromise on the matter and “U-turn” on their decision, claiming that it would breach “the country’s sovereignty”.

“The Ministry of Transport and Anthony Loke need to be firm in the implementation of e-hailing regulation, but if Anthony Loke still compromises and gives concessions, it is evident that Anthony Loke does not practice the principle of upholding the sovereignty of the nation and has made another U-turn,” he said in a statement.

Kamarudin also demanded e-hailing companies respect the government’s decision to enforce the regulation today, and warned that breaking these laws was akin to violating the sovereignty of the rule of law in the country.

“We hope the government will ensure that all (e-hailing) application companies respect the government’s decision and assist the government in addressing e-hailing issues by not allowing any e-hailing drivers who have incomplete documents to operate,” he said.

Kamarudin also stated that if the government went back on their word, his organisation would not hesitate to hold another rally in the nation’s capital.