Santiago said standard procedures in voluntary repatriation must involve a consent form signed by deportees in their mother tongue.
“The document must be returned so as to acknowledge that the person understands (the reason for deportation).
“It cannot be in any other language but the mother tongue of the person concerned,” he said at a joint press conference with other Pakatan Harapan MPs and non-governmental organisations today.
Santiago called on the department to present the documents and prove that it had obtained the signatures of all the 1,086 deportees.
He said failure to do so would mean the government had committed refoulement and violated the Asean charter, which spoke of practising good governance and democracy.
“Malaysia, having criticised the developments in Myanmar in the foreign minister’s statement, is now doing backdoor business with the Myanmar government. Maybe this is the kind of relationship between two unelected governments,” he quipped.
The Kuala Lumpur High Court granted an interim stay to stop the government from going ahead with the deportation of about 1,200 Myanmar refugees back to their homeland yesterday morning.
However, the Immigration Department allowed three Myanmar navy ships to repatriate 1,086 people from the Lumut naval base later in the day, with director-general Khairul Dzaimee Daud stressing that they were not from the Rohingya ethnic group or asylum seekers.
“All those deported agreed to return voluntarily without coercion by any parties,” he said in a statement.
Sungai Buloh MP R Sivarasa said it was a given that Khairul was aware of the court order, as his lawyers were present in court yesterday.
Asked if the move could be argued as contempt of court, Sivarasa said it was best to ask the lawyers present at the leave hearing in court.
“For me it is quite clear. You had knowledge of the order, and you wilfully disobeyed the court order,” he said.
Batu Kawan DAP MP Kasthuri Patto also urged the government to explain its decision in going ahead with the repatriation, despite the court order.
As immigration had only sent back 1,086 refugees out of the 1,200, Kasthuri also questioned what had happened to the remaining refugees.
Meanwhile, North-South Initiative director Adrian Pereira said the case was an opportunity for the government to look into comprehensive policies to manage the migrant situation in Malaysia in the long term.
Debbie Stothard from the International Federation for Human Rights pointed out that the deported refugees could be considered asylum seekers as well, due to the ongoing military coup in Myanmar.
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