Singaporeans In Johor Bahru (2)

Immigration Must Justify Nude Squat Incident

I WRITE in response to the recent “nude squat” incident involving two Singaporean ladies.
As a female, I would like to express my outrage.

I think that it is important for the Home Ministry to answer what the ladies did to deserve such treatment from Malaysian Immigration.

From my own experience, Johor Immigration officers do “skip” checking the passports of those who go through Malaysian Immigration (in or out) by car.

The officers would just ask “Malaysia”? I nod my head and they let me through without checking my passport.

I had experienced this several times while travelling in a Malaysian registered car.

This means that anyone in a Malaysian registered vehicle can run the possibility of going through Immigration check without a valid entry/exit stamp.

In the case of the two Singaporeans, it could possibly be the error of both the women and Malaysian Immigration for failing to ensure that the passports were stamped.

Nevertheless, I do not think that this warrants degrading them, unless the Immigration Department can justify it.

As a Malaysian working in Singapore, I find it embarrassing to defend my own country over such acts.

I have been treated with respect by Singapore Immigration all this time.
I hope that foreigners who come into Malaysia are as well treated. 

MELISSA TAN MEI WEI,
Puchong.

Source: The Star - Friday, June 17, 2011 

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Immigration director-general Datuk Alias Ahmad said they will be looking into how we can improve on the current standard operating procedures if needed.

Meanwhile, the women would submit their written statements to the Singapore Foreign Ministry (MFA).
MFA would then hand over the statements to the Malaysian High Commission.
The ministry hope this will help the Malaysian investigators come to a quick conclusion.
They will closely monitor the outcome of the official investigation.

Chang, a manager in an insurance company, said she would take legal action, though she had not met a lawyer.
She had been driven to Johor Bahru by her friend, Lim, a property agent, at about 1.30am.

However, Lim said she would let the matter rest after making a formal complaint.
If she wants to sue, she will have to enter Malaysia to go for the hearing, but she does not want to step into Malaysia anymore.

Lim had been driven there before by friends.
But on that fateful early morning, she was driving her new Nissan Latio for the first time into Malaysia, and went through an unmanned immigration lane.

The ladies had unknowingly driven right through the immigration check point when they did not find officials manning the booth, while the gantry was left wide open and showing a green light.
Lim failed to get both their passports stamped by immigration officials.
They made a U-turn on the Causeway to admit their mistake to the officials.

Their nightmare began when they were handcuffed for not having their passports checked at the Causeway.
Immigration officers detained them for several hours at the checkpoint.

They were later brought to the Pekan Nenas detention centre where there were about 50 other people, mostly Filipinos and Indonesians.
They were thrown behind bars, pending investigations to their case.
They were also threatened with a RM$10,000 fine and told to strip off clothings and performed 10 squats after a full body check.

The horror saga ended 48 hours later when they were released after the Deputy Public Prosecutor in charge of the case decided that they should be deported.
They were eventually let off to return to Singapore at 5pm with a stern warning and made to sign a document in Malay that they did not understand.

Superintendent Nazri of the Johor Immigration Authorities said conducting body search sometimes requires detainees to remove their clothing for thorough checks.
They are sometimes strip-searched but squats are not standard procedure.

He added that the Johor Immigration had completed its investigations and has already submitted a report to its headquarters.

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Block Off Unmanned Immigration Lanes

I REFER to the the recent incident involving two Singaporean women who drove to Johor Baru recently for supper and were detained overnight by Malaysian immigration officers (“Arrests of Singaporeans done according to law” – The Star, June 15).

Apparently, at the Malaysian immigration side of the Causeway, they drove into a lane that was not manned.

“There wasn’t anyone at the station and the green light was on,” reported one of the women. “I pressed the intercom and couldn’t hear anything because of the static, so I just continued driving when the barrier opened.”

As a frequent traveller on the Causeway, the above scenario is totally palpable as unmanned booths are not gated off nor are the Touch n Go pads deactivated. This allows the barriers to go up once tapped to pay the toll.

It totally defeats all additional security measures currently imposed especially in regards to biometric scanning when this blatantly evident loophole allows any person to circumvent the system.

I have noticed many Malaysian drivers driving through in the same manner as their passports need not be stamped.

On most occasions, only visual inspections of Malaysian passports are done upon entry/exit. As no information is recorded, authorities would not be able to tell if a person has bypassed the normal immigration procedures.

In contrast, the Singaporean authorities block off any immigration booth that is unmanned to avoid such happenings. The toll card readers are also deactivated as they are incorporated into the single immigration booth.

The immigration officer also ensures that the toll is paid and handles any problem/discrepancies with the cardreaders. This actually saves on manpower cost as well as enhancing security.

The immigration officer himself activates the lifting of the security barrier and it does not lift automatically even if the toll is paid. This is unlike the Touch n Go pads at the Johor checkpoint which, it seems, are virtually activated all the time.

I hope this security loophole will be plugged to ensure that our borders are well secured as well as to prevent any genuine visitor from inadvertently being caught on the wrong side of the law by their carelessness or ignorance. 

M. SINGH,
Johor Baru.

Source: The Star - Thursday, June 16, 2011

Singaporeans In Johor Bahru

Let Suhakam Head Nude Squat Probe 
Patrick Lee 

In another development, two Immigration officials in Johor have been temporarily suspended pending an inquiry into the incident.
 
KUALA LUMPUR: An inquiry into the Singaporean nude squats should be chaired by the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam).

In a letter to Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein, three MPs said the inquiry should also comprise Bar Council representatives and MPs, as opposed only to departments under the control of the Home Ministry.

The letter was inked by Independent Tawau MP Chua Soon Bui, DAP-Kota Melaka MP Sim Tong Him and DAP-Batu Gajah MP Fong Po Kuan.

“We have come up with this suggestion because we are of the opinion that the accusation involving these two women is very serious.

“An inquiry comprising Suhakam representatives, Bar Council and MPs will give the public confidence that the investigation is free, fair, transparent and without favour,” they said.

Such an investigation, the MPs added, would maintain good relations between Malaysia and Singapore.

According to a report by the Singapore Straits Times, two Singaporean women in Johor Baru were interrogated by Immigration Department officers before being thrown behind bars.

The duo were then allegedly stripped and forced to perform nude squats. They had since returned to Singapore and vowed never to return to Malaysia.

Following this, the Home Ministry launched an inquiry comprising immigration officials, the police and prison authorities.

According to Bernama, the inquiry would be chaired by the Immigration Department Deputy Director-General Raja Mohd Raja Ismail.

Sim however felt that the decision to appoint Raja Mohd as the head did not reflect the seriousness of the situation.

“This is a serious matter. This not only affects bilateral relations between Malaysia and Singapore, but we have to show to the world that we have intergrity,” he said.

While he thanked Hishammuddin for taking action, Sim however said that a “low-level committee” headed by Raja Mohd was not enough.

The MPs also felt that Immigration Director-General Alias Ahmad’s earlier statement had compromised the upcoming inquiry.

According to a news report, Alias said that a full body check was part of the immigration detention depot’s standing operating procedure. 

Two officers suspended

Meanwhile in another development, Alias revealed today that two Immigration officials in Johor have been temporarily suspended pending an inquiry into the nude squat incident.

A report in the Star stated that the decision was made by the inquiry committee.

“Investigations into the incident started on Thursday and will continue for the next one week,” he was quoted as saying.

He added that the officers have been temporarily suspended until they determine whether the incident was true or not.

“Other than that, we will also be looking on how we can improve on the current standard operating procedures if needed,” he said.

Source: Free Malaysia Today - June 17, 2011

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Arrest Of Singaporean Women At Johor Bahru Lawful

The arrests of two Singaporean women at the Sultan Iskandar Immigration check-point in Johor Baharu on June 9 was done according to the law, said Immigration director-general, Alias Ahmad.

He said the women were detained under Section 6(3) of the Immigration Act for attempting to exit the country illegally.

“They were detained by immigration officers on duty at the check-out counter for not having any visit pass or valid entry stamp on their passports,” he said this in a statement today.

He was responding to a posting in MalaysiaKini.Com today which quoted a report by Singapore daily, Lianhe ZaoBao, as saying that the detention of the two women was unlawful.

Alias said that the claim by the two women that there was no supervising officers at the check-in counter to stamp their passports when they came into the country the same day, was not true.

Their passports showed that they had previously entered the country on July 31 2010 and April 6 2010, respectively, he added.

Alias said the investigation papers on the case were referred to the public prosecutor’ office which ordered their deportation the same day. - Bernama

Source: Komuniti Kini - Wednesday, June 15, 2011

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Illegal Entry
By TAY TIAN YAN
Translated by Soong Phui Jee

The Immigration's attitude deserves recognition as it has carried out an investigation over the nude squat incident involving two Singaporean women.

Immigration director-general Datuk Alias Ahmad said that the arrests of the two Singaporean women were done according to the law as they had entered the country illegally.

It is indeed true.

Even the women had admitted that they had entered the country without getting their passports stamped. Undoubtedly, it was an legitimate detention since they had entered the country illegally.

However, it is not the point. The immigration investigation has actually missed two important parts.

1. Under what kind of circumstances did the women enter the country illegally?
2. Is nude squat legitimate and necessary?

The first question is indeed more important than the second.

I mean, illegal entry is a serious offence. It might be a problem and responsibility of the women or the Immigration.

For example, the women did not sneak into Johor Baru neither by digging a secret tunnel nor swimming across the Strait of Johor.

If they deliberately entered the country illegally, they should not only be detained, but must be prosecuted.

According to the women, they had accidentally entered Johor Baru without getting their passports stamped by driving through an unmanned immigration lane as they thought the biometric fingerprint scanning system has started been implemented.

However, they felt wrong half an hour later and decided to turn back and admit their mistake to officials. Only then, they realised that they had actually entered the country illegally.

It is weird to have an unmanned immigration lane. Moreover, isn't it absurd since the Malaysia-Singapore border is only about a hundred meter long instead of over a thousand miles like the US-Mexico border?

Of course, we must not blindly listen to only what the women said. Therefore, the Immigration must investigate into the incident properly and find out whether they were telling the truth.

The investigation should not be a difficult task. The immigration checkpoints should have a closed circuit television (CCTV) recorders and all they need to do is just replay the tapes.

Or, if the women entered by force, they should have activated the security alarm. There should be a record of it.

Since the Immigration checkpoints play an important role in guarding the country, not only the alarm should be activated, but a heavily armed force, a group of police officers and a helicopter should also be alarmed. They should rushed out and surround the intruders to defend our sacred territory.

However, please don't tell us that there is no CCTV recorder at the immigration checkpoints, nor a security system, not to mention armed forces, police officers and a helicopter.

Is Malaysia so lagging behind? Isn't the checkpoints have just been renovated?

At least, if we follow the standard of 50 years ago, there should be Immigration officers performing their duties at the immigration lanes, right?

The women had indeed entered the country illegally, been detained and asked to perform nude squats. But how about the management of the immigration and accountability of the officers?

Source: My Sin Chew - June 17, 2011

These Girls' Fate?

Despite Rapid Growth, India Lets Its Girls Die
By MUNEEZA NAQVI, Associated Press

MORENA, India – The room is large and airy, the stone floors clean and cool — a welcome respite from the afternoon sun. Until your eyes take in the horror that it holds. Ten severely malnourished children — nine of them girls.
The starving girls in this hospital ward include a 21-month-old with arms and legs the size of twigs and an emaciated 1-year-old with huge, vacant eyes. Without urgent medical care, most will not live to see their next birthday.
They point to a painful reality revealed in India's most recent census: Despite a booming economy and big cities full of luxury cars and glittering malls, the country is failing its girls.
Early results show India has 914 girls under age 6 for every 1,000 boys. A decade ago, many were horrified when the ratio was 927 to 1,000.
The discrimination happens through abortions of female fetuses and sheer neglect of young girls, despite years of high-profile campaigns to address the issue. So serious is the problem that it's illegal for medical personnel to reveal the gender of an unborn fetus, although evidence suggests the ban is widely circumvented.
"My mother-in-law says a boy is necessary," says Sanju, holding her severely malnourished 9-month-old daughter in her lap in the hospital. She doesn't admit to deliberately starving the girl but only shrugs her own thin shoulders when asked why her daughter is so sick.
She will try again for a son in a year or two, she says.
Part of the reason Indians favor sons is the enormous expense in marrying off girls. Families often go into debt arranging marriages and paying elaborate dowries. A boy, on the other hand, will one day bring home a bride and dowry. Hindu custom also dictates that only sons can light their parents' funeral pyres.
But it's not simply that girls are more expensive for impoverished families. The census data shows that the worst offenders are the relatively wealthy northern states of Punjab and Haryana.
In Morena, a sun-baked, largely rural district in the heart of India, the numbers are especially grim. This census showed that only 825 girls for every 1,000 boys in the district made it to their sixth birthdays, down from an already troubling 829 a decade ago.
Though abortion is allowed in India, the country banned revealing the gender of unborn fetuses in 1994 in an attempt to halt sex-selective abortions. Every few years, federal and state governments announce new incentives — from free meals to free education — to encourage people to take care of their girls.
In Morena, a Madhya Pradesh state government program offers poor families with one or two daughters a few thousand rupees (a few hundred dollars) for every few years of schooling, and more than 100,000 rupees ($2,250) when they graduate high school.
But while a handful of Indian women have attained some of the highest positions in politics and business — from late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to Pepsi CEO Indra Nooyi — a deep-rooted cultural preference for sons remains.
Even the government has accepted that it has failed to save millions of little girls.
"Whatever measures that have been put in over the last 40 years have not had any impact," India's Home Secretary G.K. Pillai said last month when announcing the census numbers.
In Morena's homes, villages, schools and hospitals lie some of the answers to why the country keeps losing girls.
In the district hospital's maternity ward, a wrinkled old woman walks out holding a just-born girl wrapped in a dirty rag like an unwelcome present. Munni, who uses only one name, is clearly unhappy. Her daughter-in-law has just given birth to her sixth girl in 12 years of marriage.
Will the daughter-in-law go through another pregnancy?
"Everyone wants boys. A boy takes care of you in your old age," Munni says.
As a mother-in-law, Munni will likely have enormous control over her son's wife, influencing how many children she has and nudging or bullying her to bear a son.
The hospital insists it strictly obeys the law against using sonograms to reveal the gender of a fetus, says R.C. Bandil, who heads the facility. The sex ratio at birth at his hospital is as high as 940-945, he says. "Why is it 825 for the 0-6 group?" he asks.
Part of the answer lies in his own hospital's malnutrition ward.
"Women cry when they have girls," nurse Lalitha Gujar says as she spoons powdered coconut, peanuts and sesame seeds into bowls of fortified milk to nourish the tiny children.
All nine mothers of the sickly infant girls say they want sons — to look after them when they get old, because their sisters-in-law have more sons, because their mothers-in-law demand male children.
"If a woman has a boy, for a month she will be looked after. If she has a girl, she'll be back in the fields in three days," says Sudha Misra, a local social worker.
An exhausted mother who faces neglect, poor nutrition and blame for producing a daugher is likely to pass on that neglect, social workers say. For an infant, that can mean the difference between life and death.
"A malnourished child will get sick and the chances of death are very high," Bandil says.
Males get first priority. "First the husband is seated and fed, then the brothers and then whatever is left is fed to the girls," says Bandil. "If there are two mangoes in the house, first the boy will get to eat."
For the very poor, the pressures to bear sons result in mistreatment of both the baby girl and mother. And rich women are not immune to this mistreatment if they fail to bear male children.
For those with money, it's often about being able to locate a radiologist who, for a cost, will break the law and reveal the sex of the fetus, or being able to fly abroad for such tests.
A 2007 study by the rights group ActionAid India found that gender ratios were worse in urban areas, and that sex-selective abortions were more common among wealthier and higher-caste people who could afford ways to learn the gender of fetuses.
The law is not enough to combat "a society that values boys over girls," says Ravinder Kaur, a professor of sociology at New Delhi's Indian Institute of Technology.
"Laws are good because they may act as a deterrent" she says, but sex-selective abortions continue underground because "people find more devious ways."

Source: News. Yahoo - Wednesday, May 4, 2011

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Virginia Girl Found Eating Herself In Cage In Mobile Home; parents Brian and Shannon Gore Charged
By Michael Sheridan

Gloucester Sheriff's Dept.

Brian Gore, 29, and Shannon Gore, 25, face child abuse and murder charges.

 

A young girl was found caged and attempting to eat herself in a mobile home in Virginia, and cops say her parents are responsible.
The malnourished girl, believed to be either 5 or 6, was discovered in a crib that was converted into a makeshift cage after police arrived at the home in Gloucester County to investigate a burglary last week.
The girl's parents, Brian and Shannon Gore, were arrested and charged with felony child abuse. The mother was also charged with attempted capital murder.
However, the gruesome twosome now faces first-degree murder charges after the remains of what authorities believe to be another child were found buried outside their mobile home.
"I've done this for 20 years, and I've never seen anything like this in my life," Gloucester Sheriff's Maj. Darrell Warren said.
A month-old baby boy was also found in the home, but was in good condition. Both he and the older girl are now in the care of the county Department of Social Services.
The horrific find came as police investigated a robbery on April 17.


A child's remains were found buried outside the Gores' home. (WTKR)

A nearby homeowner reported his house was broken into and claimed gold bullion, a vacuum cleaner, a passport, $2,000 in cash and other items had been stolen, according to a police report.
Investigators trailed the bullion to an auction house, which claimed to have bought the gold from 25-year-old Shannon Gore.
Authorities arrived at her mobile home in Gloucester with a search warrant when they made the shocking discovery.
The girl's blond-hair was matted and filled with knots. She wore only a diaper and t-shirt and was eating flakes of dried skin on her body.
Brian Gore, 29, reportedly told police the girl had been kept in the cage since the summer.
"It was horrific. I don't know what else to say," Lt. Scott Little of the Sheriff's Department told Virginia's Daily Press on Friday.
"They seemed like nice people," neighbor Tim Hudnall told the newspaper. He noted he had seen the baby boy, but never saw a girl with the Gores in the six years they've been neighbors.
"He was really a nice guy," Brian Gore's ex-girlfriend, Sandy, told WTKR 3 News in Norfolk. "He went to church and everything."
Deputies discovered the child's remains while digging under and around a shed at the mobile home Friday evening. The age, gender and identity of the remains are not known, pending an examination by the state Medical Examiner's Office.
The Gores are being held in prison as authorities determine how the child died. An autopsy report by the state medical examiner is pending.

Source: New York Daily News - Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Towards Lesser Crime In JB (6)

Singaporeans And Drug

Drug Bust: Five Filipino Women And Two Children Among Those Arrested
by Steven Chen


In a drug bust conducted on April 19 in Jalan Yahya Awal, Johor Bahru, police arrested five Filipino women, two Singaporean men and two children who are suspected to be involved in drug trafficking.
Police suspects that the Filipino women are being used as drug couriers by the two Singaporean men.
Investigation is still ongoing, said Zainuddin Yaakob, the south Johor Bahru police chief.
He said police found the drug suspected to be syabu with a street value of RM140,000 in a room of a house where the suspects are staying.
The Filipino women together with two children age two and a half and nine months do not have any identifications with them.
Zainuddin said the suspects will be investigated under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drug Act 1952 and the Immigration Act 1959.
In another unrelated case, police arrested five men age between 16 to 88 including a woman who are suspected to be involved in trafficking drug in Felda Ulu Tebrau on April 20.
They suspects were arrested in two separate places.
The drug believe to be heroin worth RM24,000 was confiscated.
Three motorcycles and unspecified amount of cash were also confiscated during the two raids.
One of the suspects was tested drug positive and he has previous record of drug related cases.
The case will be investigated under Section 39B of the dangerous drug Act 1952, Zainuddin said.

Source: Komunitikini - April 29, 2011

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In February 2011, Malaysian police arrested a 41-year old Singaporean suspected drug dealer. 

A drug laboratory in a rented house in Taman Sentosa was busted.

The 6.30pm police raid, they seized some RM 60,000 (US$19,800) worth of illicit drugs which included 1.8kg of ketamin, 71 ecstasy pills, five eramin pills and several drug processing utensils.in Malaysia's southern state of Johore.

Police said that the suspected 41-year-old man was believed to have been distributing illicit drugs around the border city of Johor Bahru since six months ago.
They said the suspect had a clean criminal record.

Deputy OCPD Johor Bahru (South), Superintendant Abdul Samad Salleh said, two luxury cars worth about RM180,000, believed to be used for the drug trade, were also confiscated.

The suspect was tested positive for drugs.

Under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 for drug trafficking, it carries the mandatory death sentence upon conviction.

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S'porean Fined For Drug Offences

JOHOR BARU - A SINGAPOREAN businessman was fined RM17,500 (S$7,543) by a magistrate's court in Malaysia after he pleaded guilty to seven counts of drug offences and one count of identification fraud.
Tan Kim Chai, 54, pleaded guilty to possessing drugs such as 0.01g of nimetazepam and 0.16g of heroin, at a house in Taman Daya as well as at an apartment unit in the city on Jan 8 this year and Aug 24, 2008.
Magistrate Mazana Sinin fined Tan a total of RM15,700 for all the drug possession charges.
The accused was also fined a further RM3,000 for possessing a fake identification card at an apartment in the city at 5.20pm on Aug 24, 2008.
Magistrate Mazana set May 3 next year for trial and no bail was offered as the accused is facing similar charges in other courts.

Source: Straits Times - September 5, 2010 

The Maid - Yes Or No, They Are Our Daughters, Too

Escaping Hard Labour: Maids In Malaysia Return 

David Boyle and Mom Kunthear

Photo by: Sovan Philong

A group of Cambodian workers are trained at VC Manpower office in Phnom Penh’s Sen Sok district last August before departing for Malaysia.

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If the recruitment agencies want to go legit they
have  to stop providing loans, it’s as simple as that

One week after they arrived at a maid training centre in Malaysia last year, two teenage Cambodian girls say their intake of recruits, fed up with working conditions, tied their instructor to a chair and fled the premises.

The girls say they had been forced to work from 7am to 5pm with just a three-minute lunch break, performing a monotonous training programme before going home to study English before bed.

Their instructor, they say, had devised a spirit-crushing regime, making the girls wash every floor, surface and utensil in the centre, then wash the same items again for days on end.

“I wondered why the office was small, yet my boss ordered me to clean it again and again,” says Soy, who has requested her real name be concealed.

“The trainer did not hit me, they just blamed me. I could not endure working in the office so much.”

Soy and two other girls with her were under the minimum legal working age in Cambodia – 18-years-old – and well below the required 21 to work in Malaysia, according to photocopies of their birth certificates obtained from the rights group Licadho and seen by The Post.

The documents show the girls were aged between 15 and 16 at the time of departure – an assertion that the company that sent them there, Ung Rithy Group Co Ltd, strongly denies.

Outside the offices of the labour company Soy says her, and 12 other trainees, found themselves stranded with no idea where they were, no passports and no way of calling home.

Stumbling upon a church, the girls say they took refuge and began a long process involving the anti-human trafficking group Tenaganita, the Cambodian embassy in Malaysia and a lawyer who ultimately would lead to the repatriation of the three girls while their other colleagues were sent back to work.

Conditions like those described by the girls echo a recurring theme documented in a litany of complaints filed to rights groups and police by women working in Cambodia’s labour-recruitment industry.

Aegile Fernandez, anti-human trafficking coordinator of Tenaganita, says her organisation has rescued 55 Cambodian women and girls from abusive conditions at different firms since April last year, at least 20 of whom were underage.

But Fernandez says these efforts have been hamstrung by an alarming aspect of what she has been told by the Cambodian embassy in Malaysia is government policy.

“The embassy tells us that it is a policy of the Cambodian government that the [rescued] girls must be sent back to the agency,” she says.

“From our experience once the victims go back to the agency, they are abused by the agency and then they are re-trafficked back to Malaysia.”

The Cambodian embassy was repeatedly called to confirm or deny that it advocated such a policy but officials did not make themselves available for comment.

Koy Kuong, spokesman for Cambodia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, denies any such policy exists.

“In principle the embassy has to cooperate with the company to repatriate them back to Cambodia, not to send them back to the company for further employment,” he said.

“The Cambodian embassy in Malaysia, after rescuing them from the abusive places, cooperates with the respective country in order to repatriate them to their homes in Cambodia.”

Under no circumstances, he says, should a worker who is underage or who has allegedly been subjected to abuse be returned to the organisation which sent them to work, even if the company has paid for the return ticket.

“When they are repatriated into Cambodia the social affairs department or anti-human trafficking police take them back to their provinces,” he said.

When Soy and the girls arrived back in Phnom Penh on June 16, 2010, staff members from both rights group Licadho and Ung Rithy Group were waiting to pick them up.

Both sought to take custody of the girls.

Licadho argues that as underage workers sent to Malaysia by Ung Rithy Group, they could not be sent back to the very firm that had recruited the girls in the first place.

Company denials
However Ung Seang Rithy, president of Ung Rithy Group, denied yesterday the girls were underage while employed by her company.

“My company has never had even one underage worker, so the organisation has to find the evidence for me to show that my company has underage girls,” she said.

“I don’t accept workers into our company if there are not parents proclaiming in front of us that their children are aged 21, and we have the documents that express that from the authorities.”

It is a claim An Bunhak, the director of the Association of Cambodian Recruitment Agencies, backs up.

“I do not accept that they were underage because we have the documents to prove that the girls are of enough age,” he said, arguing it was the parents who provided identity documents verifying their ages – a claim the girls dispute.

Those documents could not be forwarded yesterday because his office was closed for Khmer New Year, he said.

An Bunhak also says that because Ung Rithy Group paid for the girls’ travel, a claim he has backed up with copies of their flight itineraries, they rightfully should have been returned to the company.

He alleges the Licadho staffers who were waiting at the airport to pick up the girls did not have appropriate identification, a claim Licadho rejects, leading him to write a letter to authorities accusing Licadho of “kidnapping”.

Both An Bunhak and Ung Seang Rithy also deny the girls escaped abusive conditions but rather became embroiled in near-lethal fights that almost landed them in jail.

Phil Robertson, deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Asia division says it is ludicrous to suggest that by paying for tickets the company had a justifiable claim to take custody of the girls.

“Their argument that ‘we paid, we have the right to take’ displays a complete lack of understanding from Ung Rithy about human rights,” he said.

That the age of the girls remains contested nearly a year after they returned, raises important questions about the arcane lines of responsibility, regulation and monitoring of an industry that propels its recruits, underage or otherwise, into foreign territory.

Labour legislation
As the Cambodian Ministry of Labour prepares a new draft sub-decree to update 1995  legislation regulating the labour-recruitment industry, rights groups have been left in the dark about what shape the legislation will actually take. Only an early draft of the new sub-decree has been released publicly.

If that is any indication of the final form the legislation will take, then key measures that groups such as Licadho, Adhoc and South East Asia Investigations into Social and Humanitarian Activities have called for to effectively regulate the industry will not be included.

One of those, rights groups, such as Licadho and HRW, stress, must be a mechanism to prevent trainees from entering debt bondage.

Upfront loans offered by labour-recruitment firms to poor Cambodian families desperate for some financial relief can be an almost irresistible temptation, one that Soy’s mother says she succumbed to despite harbouring significant concerns about her daughter’s welfare abroad.

Before the girls left Cambodia Soy’s mother, who also wishes not to be identified, said Ung Rithy Group lent her US$1,000 – money the company is alleged to have demanded back along with expenses spent during the girls training after their escape.

“Licadho helped me because if we went to the company I would have to pay US$2,500 to them. I did not pay because Licadho helped us,” she said.
Ung Seang Rithy rejected this claim.

“There are difference cases in which we can use our right to demand [money], but I just want to clarify that the Ung Rithy Company has never asked or demanded the money from those workers,” she said.

Hou Vuthy, deputy general director at the Ministry of Labour, says it is illegal for recruitment firms grant the families of trainees upfront loans, unless the money is a provision to cover expenses related to the girls departure.

“It is illegal if the companies give the money to the trainees, but if the companies give money and don’t demand it back from the workers, it is okay,” he says.

Matthieu Pellerin, a consultant for Licadho, said that before trainees even enter the physical premises, such loans are tantamount to human trafficking.

“It’s a very simple form of debt bondage but it also falls into the definition of trafficking,” he said.

“If the recruitment agencies want to go legit they have to stop providing loans, it’s as simple as that.”

Prosecuting directors of labour firms who engage in unlawful recruitment practices and revoking licences, he says, are crucial first steps that need to be taken if Cambodia is serious about addressing an escalating problem.

According to information that Licadho say they received from the Ministry of Information, 53 minors between the ages of 13 and 17 were rescued from labour-recruitment companies last year.

Of the 53, 16 were rescued from Ung Rithy Group Co Ltd’s Kandal centre, 22 from VC Manpower Co Ltd and seven from Champa Manpower Co Ltd, Licadho says.

Again Ung Seang Rithy denies this allegation, while representatives of Champa Manpower were unaware of the case or unavailable for comment, as were representatives of VC Manpower.

Underage rescues
At a seminar of regional parliamentarians on labour trafficking earlier this month, Chou Bun Eng, Secretary of State at the Ministry of Interior, confirmed 55 underage trainees had been discovered in Cambodian labour-recruitment centres in the past year.

“We arrested eight suspects from the companies and rescued the underage workers and allowed them to return to their parents,” she said.

She was unable to recall the names of those arrested or the companies they had come from.

Eric Meldrum, operations director of South East Asian Investigations in Social and Humanitarian Activities, who works with Cambodian authorities to investigate cases of trafficking in labour recruitment, confirmed police were conducting serious investigations.

“My experience of working with the [anti] human-trafficking police is that they do actually do proper investigations in these cases,” he said, but while he was aware of prosecution in regard to labour trafficking, there had not been many.

And even if judicial authorities and regulatory bodies are able to take concrete action against labour-recruitment companies that act unlawfully in Cambodia, it is no guarantee that the basic rights of workers in Malaysia will be respected, Malaysian Senator Firdaus Haji Abdullah said.

He said Malaysia has been swamped with so many migrant workers, some 1.8 million in 2010, that authorities are simply unable to implement proper regulation of the industry, despite the existence of legislation to do so.

“Put it this way, you have a few bad apples here and there but again I keep on telling you [about] the huge number … I mean when you have 1.8 million people, less than 100 can cause a problem,” he said, referring to reported cases of abuse.

But banning migrant workers, he said, is no solution.
“[If] you stop issuing visas they come illegally. That’s what I’m saying: for every legally registered worker there is another illegal [worker].

“You can sum it up this way: migrant workers are an expanding problem faced with a shrinking solution.”

Source: Phnom Penh Post - Wednesday, April 13, 2011

China Mistress, The Home-Wrecker

Divorcee's Lonely War Against China 'Mistresses' 
by Maureen Koh

SHE leaves her four-room HDB flat in Clementi early in the morning and takes a bus to Chinatown, where she will spend the day.
It is a ritual she faithfully carries out four times a week. Her mission: To seek out "odd" couples, or rather, mainland Chinese women with middle- aged Singaporean men.
And when she spots "those suspicious ones", she whips out her digital camera, a voice recorder and a notepad. Madam Tay Wanqing, 46, is not a private investigator tailing and spying on adulterous men. She is out for revenge.
"It's war," she declared to The New Paper at her flat, "against these women who break up other people's families."
Stacked neatly in one bedroom, which is locked whenever Madam Tay leaves her home, are boxes of what she calls "incriminating evidence against the cheap women". 

Categorised info
The boxes are separated into three groups: "Case Closed", "In Progress" and "Given Up".
She declined to show its contents. What started out as a personal vendetta against mistresses has turned into an obsession for the housewife and mother of a teenager.
Unable to convince her to give up her obsession, her family members recently stopped all contact with her.
In a separate interview, her brother, Mr Tay Wantian, said: "Of course I love my sister, but it's like my parents and I have given up hope on her.
"We feel that she's gone off the deep end."
Madam Tay is aware of her family's objections and unhappiness. But she insists that she, too, is helpless.
"My brother keeps saying that I've gone mad, but if I stopped what I'm doing, I'd really go crazy," she said.
"I lost my husband after 25 years of marriage and I lost my son. What else do I have to live for?"
She was spurred into playing vigilante by her husband's previous affairs - three, she claimed - with Chinese nationals in 10 years.
Madam Tay said: "By the third affair, I gave up all hope and realised that no matter what happened, there'd always be another woman."
The couple, who have an 18-year-old son, filed for divorce in 2009.
That marked the start of her mission: To wipe out all the "wu ya" (crows) and "xiao long nu" (little dragon women). These are derogatory terms used to describe women from China.
Said Madam Tay: "I felt something had to be done. I didn't have anyone to help me when my husband was cheating on me and I had to depend on private investigators, which cost me money.
"Here, I don't charge anyone for my services."
Madam Tay was reluctant to elaborate on her "spying" techniques, adding that she was worried it would give her away and hinder her work. When she is on a mission, she scans the area for odd-looking couples.
She claimed to have learnt to tell the difference between married couples and adulterous pairs. She said her hunches have been about "90 per cent" correct so far.
After she has surreptitiously snapped pictures and taken videos of the couple, her next job is to track the men. But here's where she sometimes faces an obstacle.
Said Madam Tay: "I don't drive and some of these men do. I usually have to call for a cab, but if I don't get one, then it means starting all over again."
For the men whose addresses she has successfully uncovered, she will return another day to "present her evidence and break the news".
She admitted: "But not everyone appreciates my kaypoh (busybody) ways."
Sometimes, Madam Tay takes things into her own hands and confronts the mistresses.
She said: "I create a scene in public to shame them."
Hers is a dangerous obsession. She has been beaten before, by both the mistresses and the cheating men. Once, a man even called the police to complain of being harassed.
Madam Tay was let off with a warning.
Despite that, she is determined to continue with her mission because "for every one woman I can help, it's a point in heaven for me", she said.
With her approval, we spoke to one such grateful woman. Shop assistant Emily Yeo, 42, had suspected that her husband of five years was having an affair.
She told The New Paper: "But given my $1,000 a month salary, I couldn't afford a PI."
Madam Yeo, who has a five-year-old daughter, said she was shocked when Madam Tay knocked on her door on National Day last year.
She said: "At first I thought she was the mistress. Then, she showed me photos and a blurry video recording of my husband being intimate with a Chinese beer promoter."
Both women "hugged each other and cried for an hour".
Madam Yeo, who has filed for divorce, said: "I think my pain was dulled because I had (Madam Tay's) support."
Women like Madam Yeo give Madam Tay the strength to go on.
Said Madam Tay: "I still have my savings, but if that is depleted one day, I'm prepared to sell the flat."

****** 

Hubby Had Three Affairs
MADAM Tay Wanqing said her woes began in June 1999, when she learnt of her businessman husband's first affair with a Chinese study mama. The woman was working as a part-time cleaner in his food manufacturing company.
Madam Tay's husband fired the woman and, said Madam Tay, "we were happy for a while". The couple even went on a month-long second honeymoon trip to Europe.
But, in 2002, she noted a change in her husband's wardrobe and behaviour.
"He started wearing trendier colours and kept late nights," said Madam Tay.
Suspicious of her husband, she spent more than $2,000 to hire a private investigator (PI) who tracked her cheating spouse for eight days. She said she found out that her husband had setup a love nest with a karaoke hostess.
Madam Tay said: "I was so furious that I went to the condominium (unit) to confront the woman. She challenged me, telling me I should know how to keep my husband under control."
Madam Tay said she confronted her husband, who promptly promised to end the affair. But Madam Tay had a breakdown and was warded at the Institute of Mental Health for three months.
She said it strained her relationship with her son.
Said Madam Tay: "It was the worst time of my life. I swore I'd never allow him to hurt me again."
Again, her husband promised to change. He behaved for a few years - until late 2005, she said. This time, she spent $3,000 to hire another PI for 10 days.
The PI gathered enough evidence to show that her husband was cheating on her with a mamasan, Madam Tay said. It was the last straw and she filed for a divorce.
She said: "I realised that no matter what, my husband would never change his ways."
Madam Tay was given joint custody of her son, but he chose to live with his father.
"It hurt to be betrayed by the two men I love." 

Upset family wants her to 'come to her senses'
WHILE Madam Tay Wanqing is passionate about being a champion for wives with cheating husbands, her family members feel otherwise.
They are upset that everything they've done to convince Madam Tay to give up her obsession has been unsuccessful. And when this reporter first contacted her brother, Mr Tay Wantian, he was upset to learn that The New Paper would be running an interview with his only sister.
Mr Tay, 50, who runs a hair salon, said: "I think it's not right to encourage my sister, not when we feel she seriously needs help with her mental state."
His parents, who are in their late 70s, have "sort of disowned my sister", he added, "and you can't blame them".
Aside from worrying about her mental well-being, Mr Tay said they were also concerned over her personal safety.
"She has been beaten up before, yet she refuses to stop," he said.
"We know she needs to focus on something but spending her time and money this way is madness."
He is particularly worried because Madam Tay has always been an introvert and has few friends.
"Even when she was suffering because of her husband's infidelity, she didn't confide in us.
"It was only when she had to be warded at the Institute of Mental Health that we found out what happened."
When Madam Tay was discharged, he and his parents advised her to leave her husband.
Mr Tay said: "But my sister said she could not live without him and chose to give him another chance.
"Sceptical as we were, we supported Qing."
But following that, Madam Tay gradually withdrew from the family, said Mr Tay.
"She visited my parents less often and when they called, she'd just say she was busy with housework," he said.
It wasn't until Madam Tay was beaten up by one of the women that the family found out what she was doing.
Mr Tay said: "We were so shocked. My mother kept pleading with Qing to let go of the past and start life anew."
He added: "We've cajoled, we've shouted, we've threatened and we've begged her, but she's too stubborn to listen.
"She even threatened to kill herself if we pushed her too much."
Attempts to get Madam Tay to seek professional counselling were also unsuccessful, said Mr Tay.
"Much as we know she is hurting badly, there's only so much we can do to try and help her," he added.
"We can only hope she'll come to her senses one day, soon, before it's too late." 

This article was first published in The New Paper - Wednesday, March 16, 2011.

The Maid - Unholy Acts In The Holiest Place (4)

 
An unnamed man doubted his maid’s intentions after finding talismans and other magic items in her room.

'Kabar' Arabic language daily, on Tuesday reported the arrest of an Indonesian housemaid and her magic items seized.
Her employer told Saudi authorities that she was planning to harm his family through sorcery.
The employer had since filed charges against his maid.

******

A 32-year-old Asian housemaid, during the first week of December last year, was caught by her employer adding dirt to the water tank at the house in the eastern town of Tarut, a Saudi newspaper reported.

She was then brought to the police, and she told them that she had done so to make the family love her and make family members love each other more.
She claimed such was the practice in her country.

A week later, Saudi online Arabic language paper Ajel reported that a Saudi employer saw the Indonesian housemaid adding urine to the food she cooked for the family in the central town of Buraida.

She admitted to have adding it to the family’s food with belief that her doing will make the family love her and prevent them from hurting her.

****** 

With nearly one million maids from Indonesia and other Asian nations work in Saudi Arabia, some employers, or their family members, especially the females, are “forced” to protect themselves against their maids.

There are cases where maids allegedly put a spell on her employer, usually the husband.

There was a case when the employer's wife suspected witchcraft because her husband kept defending the maid from criticism every time she neglected her work.

But unknown to the wife, the bewitched husband adored the maid, and was carrying out all her wishes.

The maid took refuge in sorcery to make her male employer  likes her.

******  

Fear Of Black Magic Forces Maids’ Probe 

Fatima Sidiya | Arab News

JEDDAH: Allegations about maids casting spells and being involved in black magic has driven fearful housewives to call on the help of investigators. The main purpose of calling these women is to investigate maids before they go back to their countries.
The majority of investigators are non-Saudis who have lately been joined by some Saudi graduates unable to find proper jobs. The job of the investigators involves checking the personal property of maids in search of sponsors’ photographs, hair or clothes that can then be used for magic when the maid returns home.
Googling “maid investigator” in Arabic brings up over 1,800 results of women looking for maid investigators. Housewives exchange names and contact details on Internet forums, and warn each other about maids who do magic.
Um Muhammad is an Egyptian investigator who followed up on maids for five years but then stopped because her husband expressed concern that she might get attacked.
“I used to receive telephone calls from housewives asking me to investigate their maids before they’re sent home,” said Um Muhammad, who used to check two to three maids of different nationalities each day. One Riyadh-based investigator whose number is widely distributed on Internet forums said she is ready to travel to Jeddah to investigate maids.
“Don’t worry, keep her with you and I’ll investigate her,” she said, adding that housewives who telephone her can watch her do her work as long as they’re not scared.
The investigator explained that in order to do her work properly, she needs the housewife to play along with her and tell the maid that she has been sent by a government body and that her checks are part of the repatriation process.
Investigators also show particular concern in winning over new customers by exaggerating the threat of black magic and slashing fees. The investigation process is normally conducted in two parts — the first involves searching a maid’s belongings, and the second her body and clothes. Investigators usually ask for between SR400 and SR500 for each investigation, which takes about two hours. Some housewives give only SR200 for the internal investigation and carry out the external investigation themselves.
Most Saudis, it seems, are more concerned with maids dabbling in black magic rather than stealing valuables. Suad Afif, a sociologist and professor at King Abdulaziz University, asked why housewives use people who they do not know to investigate their maids, adding that such women are not even specialists in such work.
Afif said that Islamic morals prevent women from checking their maids’ personal stuff and that they look for others to do this. Some also fear their maids may lash out or have little experience in how to check on their maids. Afif said if checking maids before their final exit has become a necessity then there needs to be an official body that can do this job. This would ensure housewives remain safe.
“Black magic and the evil eye are there, but in the end it is as Allah says. Nothing can ever reach us except what Allah has destined for us,” said Afif, adding, “We should not become anxious all the time. Not every maid comes into our homes to perform black magic.”
Afif also warned housewives about investigators who are more concerned with earning money than helping people.

The Crime - Assault By None Other Than The ...

Woman Identifies Five Cops In Assault Case

PETALING JAYA: A pregnant store owner has identified five officers as being among her assailants.  Chow Soo Meng, 36, a mother of two who is eight months’ pregnant, picked out the five among 11 policemen in an identification parade at the Petaling Jaya police headquarters here yesterday.  She also identified one of them as the person who had slapped her and taken RM20,000 from her.  However, Chow said a female police officer who was also responsible for the missing cash was not in the line-up.  Segambut MP Lim Lip Eng who accompanied Chow urged police to do a thorough investigation.  “We have asked the Selangor police to take over the investigations which is being conducted by the Petaling Jaya police now,” he added.  According to Chow, at least 10 men and a woman who claimed to be policemen tried to enter her convenience shop at Jalan Perkhidmatan, Kampung Baru Sungai Buloh, at about 6.30pm on Monday.  Chow claimed that when she refused to let them in as they did not show any identification, the group cut the grill, barged in and handcuffed her.  “They refused to let me know what offence I had committed but instead slapped me twice,” she said, adding that the men then took several cartons of cigarettes, liquor, cell phone SIM cards and RM20,000 from her handbag.  She also alleged that they removed the CCTV system from her shop.  OCPD Asst Comm Arjunaidi Mohamed later said his officers went to the shop to investigate claims that drugs were being sold there.  ACP Arjunaidi denied his men had stolen money from the woman but had instead seized RM15,900 as part of the investigations.  He said the money was in police custody and they were investigating if it was proceeds from ill-gotten gains.  “We will investigate her claims that she was slapped. If there is truth to her allegations, I will take action against those responsible,” he said.

Source: The Star - Sunday, February 6, 2011

******

Chia Buang Hing - Picture: Malaysian Insider 

34-year old Chia Buang Hing, a frame-maker, is just an ordinary Malaysian citizen.

On December 18, about an hour to midnight, he drove his wife's car with an expired road tax.
Chia's nightmare of being repeatedly beaten, his life threatened, relieved of RM13,000 and his business threatened with ruin began as he was driving from his house in Tropicana to Kota Damansara, where traffic police had set up roadblocks.
Having spotted the expired road tax, one of the police officers asked for his driver's licence and identification card.

At the stop, Chia claimed police officers had noticed a stack of RM50 notes totalling RM7,000, sticking out of his pocket as he was producing his driver’s licence.
The officer demanded that he hand them over.
He refused, and insisted he be issued with a summons.

But as the officer kept asking for the money, Chia warned that he would lodge a report.

Chia said he was carrying a total of RM18,000 that he had collected from his three frame-making shops that night, with RM10,000 in his pockets and RM8,000 in the car.
For refusing to bribe the police, the alleged assaults then began.

Chia tried to take the officer's picture with his mobile phone, but he was repeatedly punched by him and two other officers.
One of them handcuffed him and he screamed for help, but he was shoved inside a police car and beaten again.
There were several witnesses to the act, including a security guard and a friend of his who was in another car.

Chia was beaten at various points from the time he was pulled over until he was brought to the Kota Damansara police station.
He was outside a toilet at the station and seven officers kicked and stepped on him until he vomited blood and sustained injuries on his face.

Then, one police officer took the RM7,000 from his front pocket and RM3,000 from his back pocket and they threw it on the floor.
The officer became angry when he demanded the money be returned and he threw the remainder he was holding into the toilet and hit him again.

At about 3am the following morning, he was threatened by an officer that drugs would be injected into his bloodstream.
He was later assaulted again, by as many as five officers at once, at the police station and on an empty plot of land he could not identify.

Chia was beaten up until he vomited blood.
One thing he managed to do, was to leave his bloodied fingerprints in many parts of the police station that he had been dragged to. (Most of the bloodstains had been removed, but there were some under a table, behind a mirror and under a cupboard, which were photographed by police).

Only when they saw that he was barely surviving, as he had vomited blood and white foams were trickling out of his mouth, then they took him to Sungai Buloh Hospital.

By then, it was already 7am.
Chia was taken to the Petaling Jaya magistrate's court, about 10am, for a remand order against him.
He informed the magistrate of his ordeal but he was ignored.
The magistrate ordered him to be remanded by police until December 22 on suspicion of possession of drugs and weapons.
He was once again beaten outside the courthouse.

The police had wanted Chia to report that his injuries had been sustained in a traffic accident.
When he refused, they threatened to plant a blood-stained machete and drugs in his car and get him locked up for a long time.
The father of two was detained for five days.

******

Selangor police chief Datuk Tun Hisan Tun Hamzah had said that initial investigations by the task force indicated that the reason for Chia’s detention is for suspected possession of heroin and a parang in his car.
However, Chia vehemently denied of possessing the weapon and drug in his car.

Chia is currently out on police bail.
He also denied that he was allowed to meet his family and lawyers.
He claimed that the police had not informed him that he could lodge a police report while under detention.

During that period, he was taken to a officer at narcotics department in the Petaling Jaya district police headquarters.
Since there was no case against him, the men who abused him were called up.
The officer at the narcotics department advised him to lodge a report and allowed him to contact his family.

He was then released on police bail and RM5,000 was returned to him.

******

After almost a month since Chia was allegedly held and beaten by about a dozen cops, he was supposed to report himself to the Narcotics Department of the Petaling Jaya district headquarters to find out the status of his case.
However, once he was there, no one attended to him.
He was told by a desk officer to return on January 21.

Chia now has more questions than answers.
* Why only five policemen were charged in court when he had reported 11 attackers?
- Mohd Azwan Hassan, Norzali Rosle, Ahmad Saifullah Osman, Alizulhafiz Abdul Ghafar are accused of voluntarily causing hurt to Chia in the Kota Damansara police station between 12.30am and 3am on Dec 19.
- Mohd Azwan and Norzali, who are under suspension, were similar accused of voluntarily causing hurt to Chia at Jalan PJU 3/15, Persiaran Tropicana, Kota Damansara between 11.30pm on Dec 18 and 12.30am on Dec 19.
- Lance Corporal Mahadi Adam was charged with committing the offence at the Kota Damansara police station between 12.30am and 3am on Dec 19.
- All of them pleaded not guilty in the same court.

* Why were the five released without bail?
- Deputy Public Prosecutor Amirah Mohamed Yusoff sought bail of RM3,000 for each of the policemen.
Counsel Suraj Singh, representing Norzali, and counsel Ahmad Zaharil Muhaiyar, representing Ahmad Saifullah, Alizulhafiz and Mahadi, objected by saying that there was no provision in the law to impose bail for summons offences.
Magistrate Nik Mohd Fadli Nik Azlan dismissed the prosecution's application for bail and set February 14 for mention of the case.

* Why was it that he could not get his car back despite him asking the police numerous times?

* Why did he has to pay for the towing of his car?
(Chia claimed the cops who rode with him in the patrol car had told him to pay the tow truck attendants for towing his car from Kota Damansara to the police station).

* Why did the deputy public prosecutor (DPP) in his case gave 'special treatment' to the five cops by taking them out of the courtroom via a different route, where the media couldn't see them?

****** 

Chia Buang Hing hoped the policemen involved would not be given preferential treatment by the DPP at the next case mention.
He was not informed of the day the five were charged in court, nor given details of the charges until a few days later.
He felt the police are not thoroughly investigating his report on the cops who had threatened to plant drugs and a parang in his car.

Because the police are tight-lipped about his case, Chia now lives in fear although he is considered lucky to be alive.

All because he refused to bribe the police officers, he is now scared as everyone is telling him that he will be charged, although he did not carry any illegal stuff in his car.
He wants to clear his name and he could not wait for the nightmare to end.

Chia hope God will help him in telling the truth.
Hard for him to find others believing in him after the alleged police brutality.
All he wants is justice to be done and his money back.

Chia would rather die than be defamed by the police. 

The Maid - Unholy Acts In The Holiest Place (3)

Serial Killing: Victims’ Bodies Lay Unclaimed
YANBU: The bodies of two Asian housemaids who were raped and murdered by a serial killer three years ago are still at a hospital morgue in Yanbu while the authorities await the consent of their relatives to bury them.

The body of a third housemaid, who was also raped and murdered by the same man, was buried some time ago.
Yanbu police arrested the man, who is of African origin, last September following his son’s arrest.
The man has admitted to the rape and murder of the three women over the last four years. The Prosecution and Investigation Commission is currently completing paperwork to begin court proceedings against the man.
Al-Madinah newspaper reported on Saturday quoting Dr. Abdul Rahman Saeedi, director of the Health Affairs Department in Yanbu, that one of the three bodies was buried and the remaining two bodies were still at a morgue.
“We have yet to receive any letter from the concerned authorities with regard to consent from their relatives to bury them,” Saeedi said.
Ibrahim Al-Abadi, a prominent lawyer and former head of investigations at the Prosecution and Investigation Commission, said keeping dead bodies at morgues indefinitely is a violation of rules.
“With regard to unidentified bodies, forensic experts should carry out post-mortems to determine the actual causes of death. Bodies should be photographed and fingerprints should be taken, in addition to DNA samples. All these procedures should be completed within a period of two months,” he said.
“Then the body should be buried once clearance is received from the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Health. If a relative claims the body or identifies it through the data the authorities have then they are entitled to exhume the mortal remains,” the lawyer said.
According to Al-Abadi, the murderer, called Auda Ahmad, should be handed the death penalty.
Ahmad has confessed to kidnapping runaway housemaids to avoid being detected. He would then torture the women, rape them and dump their bodies in desert areas after disfiguring them.
Yanbu police had been searching for the man for around four years before finally arresting him on the basis of information received from his son who was arrested for begging.
Ahmad was arrested on Sept. 1, 2010, while attempting to lure another housemaid who would have been his fourth victim.
The bodies of the three maids were so badly disfigured that police were unable to identify them. One of the bodies was found buried on Yanbu Corniche in a plastic bag. The body of another had been found with stab wounds and acid scalds over her face.
The third body was found already decomposing in a remote area close to a rest house near the town of Umluj.
Police found the serial killer with several forged ID cards and pictures of housemaids on his mobile phone, including a photograph of one of the three women.
None of the women’s relatives or sponsors have so far come forward to claim their bodies.

Source: Arab News - Saturday, January 22, 2011

******

The attorney general has presented the file to the court and will seek the death penalty for 45-year old Owdhah Ahmad.
The man should be beheaded under Shariah if the charges that he had allegedly killed, raped and burned the bodies of the three women are proven.
The case is expected to be looked at by a panel of three judges.

The arrest came after a four-year manhunt involving officers from Madinah and Yanbu.
Police investigators had detained and interrogated a number of suspects.

After a four-year search, security services arrested the thug who confessed the torture of three Indonesian maids, maiming the bodies, mutilating and burnt them after sex to rid evidence.

The bodies of the victims were then dump in remote areas, in different locations in the city.

After months of relationship started in Cornish, the culprit claimed his first victim on Sept. 20, 2007 (Ramadhan 8, 1428H).

He helped the victim escaped from her employer and heavy workload, after promising the maid of getting her transferred to another household with attractive salary.

He hit the victim on the head, and burnt her.

The remain was placed on dirty road among palm trees and with strewn stems in an uninhabited area.

Yanbu police found the badly mutilated maid's body in an area in Al-Nakheel Road in 2007 close to a rest house. 

Authorities were unable to determine the deceased identity.

The second prey was found in Yanbu Corniche.

The killer succeeded in luring and taking her to a remote area before raping her.

He then struck her head with a big rock, killing her instantly.

He committed his second murder on June 26, 2008 (Jumadil Akhir 22, 1429).

The victim's head was shaved.

After mutilating her body, she was put into a bag and buried under the sand at the beach. 

Foul smell led the discovery of the disintegrated body by a group of children playing at the beach near Corniche of Yanbu Industrial City.

The picture released by the Yanbu police shows officials moving the body of Owdhah Ahmad’s third victim, who was killed on Aug. 10, 2009. (AN photo)

He noticed his third victim in the market nearby his home. 

While she was walking along the roadside in Yanbu, he followed her in his car until they reached a secluded area. 

He approached her and revealed his desire to have sex with her. 

She refused and tried to run away, but she was caught and stabbed her several times that left blood splattered around. 

He raped her as she was dying, poured acid on her body to disfigure it. 

She was burnt and left it on the road to die on August 10, 2009 (Shaaban 19, 1430).  

The body was later buried in a remote area along Al-Shimal Road near Amlaj town.

He told the police that he was picking housemaids, especially those who are not known to others and he had already identified his fourth target as she has similar specifications.

******

The killer was detected by accident.
The nabbing of a network of beggars helped uncover the serial killer's crimes.

A private driver guided the police to the beggary network.

When his son, Marzouq, was arrested for begging, he disclosed of his father not a normal person as he used to beat and torture him and his brothers, and forced them to beg.
The father would burn him with fire.
The suspect allegedly deformed his own children by burning them with fire to make them beggars.

In another statement, his wife had earlier submitted an official complaint that her husband had forced her to beg.

The police started monitoring the man after Marzouq told them that he saw his father brought Asian nationality women to their house, even in the presence of his mother.
And, he even saw his father stabbing an Indonesian housemaid to death on the street.
Marzouq admitted to investigators that he saw the maid run from their old house at Al-Ossaili District in Yanbu after she and his father had an argument.
The woman ran toward Al-Nami Souq and his father, brandishing a knife, chased her, caught her, stabbed her to death.

Police searched the house and among his possessions, police found many forged identities and false identity papers.
In memory cards of the serial killer's mobile phones are pictures of maids, including one of his victims.
The discovery opened the door that leads to past unresolved issues.

******.

Owdhah Ahmad was arrested on the first days of Eidul Fitr in the Red Sea port city of Yanbu.
The man is now being held on charges of murdering three foreign housemaids.
He hunted his victims at local markets and was caught red-handed on September 1, while allegedly attempting to lure another housemaid who would have become his fourth victim.
He was seen luring the housemaid at a commercial market in Yanbu.

He allegedly tried to mislead police by claiming he was trying to recruit the maid to work for him during Ramadhan.
But the woman told police that Owdhah was persuading her to flee from her sponsor's house and have illicit relations with him.
He would always sit in markets to attract victims.

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Owdhah Ahmad had confessed in September while in detention in Al-Balad Police Station in Yanbu, before a panel of judges in Yanbu reenacting of his alleged sexual assault, disfigurement and murder of three Indonesian housemaids in 2007 and 2008 at locations where the incidents took place.

He admitted the rape, and murder before mutilating the housemaids' bodies and burying them.

The man is being held in the general prison after he was examined at Yanbu General Hospital for the state of his mental health.
Preliminary investigations show that the serial killer falsely claimed that he killed a fourth housemaid in July and hid her body in a flood culvert near Yanbu Al-Nakhl but authorities did not find a body there, which led them to believe the mans story about the fourth murder was not true.

But a day later, he denied murdering the maids when brought before a court in Yanbu to authenticate his confession.
Court sources played down the retraction, saying they had enough evidence to convict the man without a confession.

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The killer used to pick housemaids without any legal identification as his victims to avoid detection.
He would subjected them to torture, burns and rape before killing them.
He disfigured the victims and hide them.

Investigators believe that the accused was mentally ill. He might be suffering from psychological disorders, especially as sex and torture were the common denominators in all of his crimes.
The court will take this into consideration during the trial if he is found to be mentally sick.
But psychiatrists are certain that he knew what he was doing when he allegedly committed his crimes.

A relative of the killer said the man was under stress because his wife was mentally ill, the citizenship of his father and uncle had been withdrawn, and one of his children had run away from home.

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Son Can't Kill A Chicken Says Father Of Suspect In Yanbu Serial Killings

The father of the man suspected of being the Yanbu serial killer defended his son and said, “I can’t believe that my son has slaughtered three people because he can’t kill a chicken.”

The father described his son as alert, but a little bit unstable and described him and his grandson, Marzouq, as troublemakers.

“Thy both love to save pictures of any thing on their mobiles,” he said.

He, however, expressed sympathy for to the slaughtered housemaids and said authorities should investigate the crimes and issue a sentence against his son if he was really convicted of committing them. 

“If the investigations prove he is guilty, he deserves to be punished,” the suspect’s father said.

The father said he lived in Khamis Mushayt, southwest of the Kingdom, before moving to Yanbu and had two wives, Umm Owdhah, the suspect’s mother, and a second wife. The man said his Saudi nationality was withdrawn 20 years ago.

He said had traded in goats he brought from Sabya in the Jizan region, but a pelvis fracture forced him to leave the job so he asked his wives to beg for money. He said he would only send his sons out to do so when there was an urgent need to pay for rent and other necessities.

Okaz/Saudi Gazette also interviewed Ahmad Hassan, the Saudi uncle of the suspected serial killer, who was found in the district looking for Marzouq, the suspect’s son. Hassan said he was looking for Marzouq because he is sponsoring him and his brothers.

Okaz/Saudi Gazette joined Hassan in his search, but he did not find any trace of Marzouq. He thought that the landlord kicked the family out of their apartment after he had learned of the crimes their father is suspected of committing.

When the suspect’s wife was contacted, she said she had lied about her husband as having no relatives because she wanted to protect them because many of them were illegal residents. She said this would also explain her commitment to her husband.

“I have no place to go to with my children,” she said.

Her brother said they cannot stay with him.

“We are living in a very miserable condition so we can’t receive my sister and her children,” he said. “I have 10 children of my own, my wife, my sister and her six children.”

The suspect’s wife said his second son, Ahmad, 10, disappeared because of his father’s cruelty and abuse. She said he was last seen during Ramadan, playing in the street with children. Zare’ Bin Awwad Al-Sayyid, district chief of Al-Balad District, where the suspect worked in a shop, said there was nothing strange in the suspect’s behavior that drew his attention and there were no complaints from businesses that had employed the man.

Al-Sayyid has praised the Al-Balad Police, especially its Criminal Research Department, for dismantling a network that forged national identities, which led to finding the man suspected of killing the three foreign housemaids. – Okaz/SG __

Source: Saudi Gazette - September 18, 2011

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Despite the difficult living conditions being experienced by the suspected serial killer’s brother-in-law, Ahmad Hassan offered his house to his sister and her six children after their landlord expelled them from their home. The woman and her children had been homeless for days.
The brother said he would ask the charitable society in Yanbu to secure an appropriate house for his sister and her children and urged authorities to help them, regardless of her husband’s case.
The suspected serial killer’s second son, Ahmad, is still missing. There have been reports in the last few days that he was seen roaming on the streets near Al-Shawam Market in Yanbu.
Other reports indicate that Ahmad is staying with relatives in Makkah who have reformed his attitude and convinced him to stop stealing.
Meanwhile, an official from the committee that sponsors prisoners, ex-convicts and their families told Arab News that the committee would consider extending financial support to Ahmad’s wife and children if he is convicted. Circumstances of the family will be looked into for care and support providence, after a final verdict is passed. All needy inmates and ex-prisoners and their families are to be extended with support, regardless of their nationalities, nor the nature of their crimes, under the directives of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques

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Owdhah Ahmad was released from a Yanbu prison in 2007 after serving a jail term for harassment and acid attacks on his sons.
The man, who has four sons and two daughters, had been selling fruit and vegetables for a living.

The 45-year old Yemeni national has been living in Yanbu illegally for several years.

Meanwhile, Madinah police had arrested six relatives of the alleged Yanbu housemaids’ serial killer, who were allegedly involved in forging identity cards and impersonating Saudi nationals.
Those being held are said to be of Arab origin.
All documents of the arrested persons have been seized and their involvement in the killing of the housemaids are yet to be proven.

Picking Up The Pieces

A Chinese farmer, who was wrongly jailed for 11 years for murder he did not commit, has been acquitted after the victim 'came back to life'.

Zhao Zuohai, 57, was recently released from prison after the man he was convicted of killing more than a decade ago reappeared in their home village alive on April 30. The Henan Higher People's Court in China declared Zhao Zuohai, innocent on Saturday after confirming Zhenshang's identity on Friday, May 7.

A press conference was held on Sunday - The court official said Zuohai was declared innocent, released from the prison and helped him settled down.

After being tortured into confessing to the murder of a man who is not even dead, he has been given 650,000 yuan (US$96,000) in government compensation, state media reported on Thursday. He is now asking for more compensation.
Zhao Zuohai, 57, has asked for another 650,000 yuan in compensation after he received the same amount last Thursday morning from judicial officials in Shangqiu City in central Henan province, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

He said the money awarded to him earlier was not enough to cover his losses - Spending 11 years behind bars and returning home to find his wife remarried and his children adopted by other families.
After he went to prison, Zhao's wife remarried and two of his children were adopted by her new husband. The other two children left home to work as migrant labourers.

Zhao Zuohai showing the cheque with the compensation money (Photo: China News Service)

Family members said Zhao agreed to the initial compensation because court officials knocked on his door at midnight and persuaded him to sign documents without clarifying certain details.The next day, Zhao regretted signing the papers because he considered the amount "too little", they said.

Yuan Hegang, spokesman for the Henan Higher People's Court said the compensation was in line with the State Compensation Law including 450,000 yuan for wrongful jail for 4,019 days, and 200,000 yuan as allowances to support Zhao’s future.

Wang Jianmin, Party chief of the political and legislative affairs committee of Shangqiu city, shaking hands with Zhao Zuohai.

 "It was better to be dead than alive," he told Beijing News.

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After his release, Zhao said he had been forced to confess to murder, beaten at the head with a long stick, asked to drink something that made him really sleepy and set off fireworks above his head. He was tortured during the interrogation until he confessed to the crime.
Police made him stay awake for days.

Zhao's ex-wife said she was tortured by the police for about a month in 1999 when the headless body was found. The police kept asking her if she knew Zhao Zuohai killed the man.
She was beaten up when admitted she did have any knowledge about it.

The incident has raised concerns about torture, which is believed to be widely used by Chinese police in criminal cases. China has taken gradual steps to address particular instances of torture.

The local police, court officials and prosecuting authorities are investigating the case and have promised to penalise those responsible for the wrong conviction.
2 police officers have been detained on suspicion of torturing Zhao to get him to confess and a third one is at large.
3 judges who were in charge of Zhao's case, have been suspended and are being investigated.

Last year, Beijing pledged to clamp down on inmate abuse, and nearly 1,800 policemen were suspended, according to a report released on the Ministry of Public Security website.
China has also released guidelines that identify specific acts of torture for which police can be prosecuted in an apparent attempt to reign in such abuses.

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In 1997, both Zhao Zuohai and Zhao Zhenshang had a fight at their hometown in Shangqiu. Zhenshang went missing after the fight.
After 4 months, his nephew lodged a police report suspecting his uncle had been killed by Zuohai.
Zuohai was detained to assist investigations but released 20 days later.

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A probe into the false murder charge has been launched, China media reported.

In 1999, Zuohai was convicted of murdering his neighbour after a highly-decomposed headless body believed to be Zhao Zhenshang was found.

He was sentenced to death with a 2-year reprieve by the Intermediate People's Court in Shangqiu in 2002.

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After being missing for 13 years, Zhenshang, 58, returned home on April 30 this year.

Police have returned to the well where the headless body was found and began their probe to re-establish the man's identity.

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Worrying of having killed Zuohai the farmer, Zhensheng, a petty trader, told the villagers that he ran away after injuring Zuohai in the fight 13 years ago in the wee hours on his bicycle, with only 400 yuan and a quilt.
He did not know anything that happened to Zuohai until after he went back.

He said he decided to return home after suffering from a minor hemiplegia (paralysis of one side of the body).