Malaysia's probe over naked squat claims will "take
couple of weeks"
SINGAPORE: Malaysia's inquiry into the case of two
Singaporean women who were allegedly detained, forced to undress
and do squats will take "a couple of weeks" to
complete.
This is according to Malaysia's High Commissioner to
Singapore Md Hussin Nayan, who was in Singapore for an arts event
at ION Orchard on Saturday.
The two women said they crossed immigration lines
accidentally because they saw no one at an immigration counter and
had seen a green light ahead of them.
They were detained by Malaysia's Immigration authorities, who are
investigating the incident and have suspended the officers
concerned.
Commenting on the case, Md Hussin Nayan said he hopes the incident
will not cast a shadow on relations between the two
countries.
He said: "My only hope is that Singaporeans don't shy away from
going to Malaysia. This incident in JB is definitely unfortunate
but Malaysian authorities are taking measures to investigate and to
punish those actions that aren't in conformity with the standards
of operating procedures."
Well-known women's rights activist Marina Mahathir, who was also at
the Singapore event, said that Malaysians are also expecting an
explanation.
She said: "I can tell you a lot of Malaysians are very, very upset
about it, particularly the women's groups.
"We think this was really uncalled for and we had this incident
before with the police, not the immigration, and there was an order
out that this shouldn't be done at all.
"This is a bit of a shock to all of us. And the two immigration
officers have been suspended pending investigations, so we expect
some explanation for this."
She added that Malaysia was generally a safe place and that
Singaporeans should not have to worry about entering the
country.
At a separate event in his constituency, Singapore's Foreign
Affairs Minister K Shanmugam said Singapore will be watching the
issue carefully.
"The allegations made by the two ladies raise serious concerns and
we're happy that a committee has been set up and Malaysian
authorities have said they are going to investigate this," said Mr
Shanmugam.
Reports say the Malaysian panel to investigate the incident
convened in Johor on 16 June to start the inquiry.
- CNA/ir