HRC Responds: Lenggeng incident not what it seems

Tuesday, 13 May 2008
Contributed by the Human Rights Committee

ROUNDED UP: Malaysian police keeping a close eye on detainees from Myanmar at the holding camp in Lenggeng, Negeri Sembilan. Some 60 illegals rioted and set fire to a building on Monday.

The Committee refers to The Star's online report on 21 April 2008 "Myanmar riot at detention camp, building torched". It was reported that 60 Myanmar nationals were involved in a riot at the Lenggeng detention camp “apparently after they were told that their application to move to a third country was unsuccessful”.

On 8 May 2008, members of the Committee’s Complaints and Intervention Strike-Force interviewed 14 detainees who are being held at the Seremban District Police Headquarters for investigations into the incident.

Based on statements taken from the detainees, we note the following:

1. On 20 April 2008, 9 detainees in the Lenggeng camp were punched, kicked and beaten by 5 unidentified officers in the immigration office within the camp. The cries of the victims could be heard by the other detainees.

2. In response to the abuse on 20 April 2008, the Lenggeng detainees began to protest. Some threw plastic water bottles out of their cells. The following morning when the wardens brought breakfast to the detainees, the detainees refused to eat the same.

3. Some of the 14 detainees interviewed were Myanmar refugees registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (“UNHCR”). They had only been recently incarcerated in the months of March and April, and there was no legitimate expectation that they would be resettled, a process which may take many months or even years. Some of the other detainees were Indonesians who were to be deported on 22 April 2008, and it was against their interests to be part of any riot or uprising which would jeopardise their deportations.

4. Every day, there would usually be at least 5 immigration officers and 10 RELA officers on duty in the detention blocks. However, at approximately 12.00 pm on 21 April 2008, many of the detainees confirmed that the immigration and RELA officers had evacuated the blocks. Smoke was then seen to be emanating from the office of the officers. Some of the detainees had to break their cell doors to escape the fire which was spreading.

The Committee is continuing to gather more information on the incident, and to take statements where necessary. In the interim, we would caution against the apparent conclusion that the riot was caused by detainees who were dissatisfied with the rejections of their asylum applications.

We state as follows:

1. The immigration department, being the arresting and investigating authority, should not be managing and supervising the post-trial detention of the detainees. Similarly, RELA, established under our emergency laws and which consist of inadequately trained personnel, should not be part of this process. The duty to manage the immigration camps should rest on the prisons department which has particular expertise in this field of work.

2. Unhindered access to all immigration camps should be restored immediately to UNHCR which has the international mandate to monitor, document, assist and protect refugees, asylum-seekers and persons of concern.

3. There must be a return to constructive and effective dialogue among the stakeholders concerned with immigration and refugee problems in the country. A Special Task-Force with monitoring and advisory powers should be established immediately under the purview of the Home Ministry consisting of representatives from the Ministry, police, immigration, RELA, prisons, SUHAKAM, UNHCR, Bar Council and concerned NGOs to look into the said problems.

4. A thorough investigation must be conducted into the Lenggeng incident by a Royal Commission of Inquiry or SUHAKAM with a view to making appropriate recommendations to the Government.

Dated this 13th day of May 2008
Human Rights Committee
Bar Council

The 91st Anniversary of Fatima

On May 13, 1917, on a hillside outside Fatima, Portugal, three shepherd children saw a lady "brighter than the sun, shedding rays of light clearer and stronger than a crystal glass filled with the most sparkling water and pierced by the burning rays of the sun." For the next six months, on the 13th day of the month, Our Lady of Fatima appeared to Lucia dos Santos and her cousins Francisco and Jacinta Marto.

The final apparition, on October 13, 1917, was accompanied by the "Miracle of the Sun." As many as 70,000 people saw the sun dance in the sky, then plunge toward the earth. The sheer number of witnesses weighed strongly in the decision to proclaim the apparitions at Fatima "worthy of belief" in 1930.

Sixty-four years after the first apparition, on May 13, 1981, Mehmet Ali Agca attempted to assassinate Pope John Paul II in St. Peter's Square. Despite massive blood loss, the Holy Father survived, a fact he credited to Our Lady of Fatima: "For in everything that happened to me on that very day, I felt that extraordinary motherly protection and care, which turned out to be stronger than the deadly bullet."

There is no better way to celebrate the 91st anniversary of Fatima than to pray the rosary, which the Blessed Virgin asked the children to recite every day. In fact, most Catholics incorporate into the rosary a prayer known as the Fatima Prayer, which was revealed by Our Lady to the children on July 13, 1917. Recited at the end of each ten Hail Marys, it is also known as the Decade Prayer.

In this month of May, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, may Our Lady of Fatima intercede for us!

Vatican reaffirms ban on homosexual seminarians

http://www.cwnews.com/news/viewstory.cfm?recnum=58524

Rome, May. 20, 2008 (CWNews.com) - The Vatican has affirmed that a policy barring homosexuals from admission to seminaries applies to all Catholic dioceses and religious orders.

In a brief letter to the world's bishops, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone (bio - news), the Vatican Secretary of State, underlined that a November 2005 policy statement from the Congregation for Catholic Education is "valid for all formation houses for the priesthood," including those administered by religious orders, the Eastern Catholic churches, and missionary territories.

Cardinal Bertone's letter-- which, he noted, was specifically approved by Pope Benedict XVI (bio - news)-- refers to the Instruction released by the Congregation for Catholic Education in November 2005, saying that neither active homosexuals nor celibate men with "profoundly deep-rooted homosexual tendencies" should be ordained to the priesthood or allowed to begin seminary training.

That Vatican document, which has now been reinforced, instructed bishops and religious superiors to use "painstaking discernment" in appraising the candidates for priestly training. Candidates who are identifiably homosexual are not qualified for ordination, the Vatican said. "In the case of a serious doubt in this respect, they must not admit him to ordination," the document added.

Since the release of the Instruction in November 2005, some bishops and religious superiors had questioned whether the policy was to be applied universally throughout the Church. Cardinal Bertone's letter, which he wrote to all the world's bishops and religious superiors in response "to numerous requests for clarification," answers those questions in the affirmative.

BELARUS: "We are reclaiming our history as a land of religious freedom"

By Antoni Bokun, Pastor of John the Baptist Pentecostal Church in Minsk, Belarus

Concern is growing across Europe about the deterioration of freedom of conscience in Belarus. Few are aware, however, that Belarus was once a haven of religious freedom for people fleeing persecution in Western Europe. In this personal commentary for Forum 18 News Service http://www.forum18.org, Antoni Bokun, pastor of Minsk's John the Baptist Pentecostal Church, describes how Belarusians' historical experience has taught them that "religious freedom elevates our nation, whereas religious un-freedom leads to the darkest and most tragic consequences." In 1573 - almost 400 years before the Universal Declaration of Human Rights - Belarusians adopted one of Europe's first legal declarations upholding religious freedom for all, when many other European states executed people for their faith. Pastor Antoni maintains that it is this deep-rooted experience which lies behind today's campaign against religious freedom restrictions. "Inspired by our long history of freedom of conscience, Belarusians continue to work and hope for the day that our country will reclaim its heritage as a land of religious freedom."

In 2007 Pastor Bokun spent three days in prison and was heavily fined for leading worship services.

Belarus has been renowned freedom of conscience for centuries. This is why religious freedom – which the current state authorities have been trying to restrict for the past decade – remains a key concern for Belarusian citizens. In the largest campaign of its kind since current President Aleksandr Lukashenko came to power in 1994, between April 2007 and February 2008 over 50,000 people signed a petition asking the Constitutional Court and other state organs to change the restrictive 2002 Religion Law. Moreover, according to those who collected signatures, every second person approached agreed to support the appeal. Petitioners signed even though the state arrested campaign activists and confiscated campaign material.

Campaigners against the Religion Law affirm that the rights to life, free speech and freedom of belief are inalienable, "because we have them from birth, they are given to us by God and not the government. Since the government does not give us these rights, they do not have the right to take them away." The Law's opponents also stress that they are defending the rights of all Belarusian citizens, as it "violates the rights of all people, even atheists."

Even though it is more than five years since the Law came into force in 2002, Belarusian Christians have not stopped seeking its review. When the Law was under consideration, there were protest demonstrations and numerous appeals against its adoption due to the numerous problems it was bound to create in the religious sphere. Then, once the Law was adopted, the Baptist Union and the Full Gospel Association did not re-register until the very last moment, insisting upon amendments to some of its more odious provisions. While this protest did not succeed, it at least became possible in practice to re-register a number of churches unable to manage the minimum 20 founders. The recent petition marks a new stage in the battle to change the Law.

In multi-confessional Belarus - where Christmas and Easter are officially celebrated twice, according to both Eastern and Western Christian calendars – moves to restrict religious freedom and allot the Orthodox Church the de facto status of state church are inevitably causing resentment. Most people find such a policy perplexing, as they are accustomed to believing that they belong to a multi-confessional nation.

For full news, click http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1131