Media statement by Teresa Kok Suh Sim in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday, 14^th June 2011:

Hishammuddin must conduct immediate investigation on despicable nude squat incident involving two Singaporean women

Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein must immediately conduct an investigation on reports by The Straits Times of Singapore that Malaysian immigration officers had forced two Singaporean women to perform nude squats while detaining them at the Pontian Remand Centre to restore any sense of respect for the Home Ministry.

The women, identified as Chang and Lim, had told Singapore media that they were confused by what they thought was the newly introduced biometric system at an unmanned entry point at Johor Bahru and had driven into the country without having their passport stamped. They said when they realised they had made a mistake, they returned to the checkpoint to have their passports stamped and were then detained for entering the country illegally.

The Malaysia Insider, quoting Straits Times, reported: "Chang said that at about noon (about 10 hours after they were detained), an officer told them they would have to pay a fine of RM3,000 each before they could be let off....The women said they signed a statement in Malay and asked to be taken to an ATM... At about 5pm they were told that they would be transferred to the Pontian Remand Centre and held for 14 days."

At the centre they were reportedly made to strip naked and then made to stand up and down while pulling their ears for 10 times. The next day, they were released with a warning and no charges were pressed.

This despicable and degrading procedure of making detainees do nude squats smacks of abuse of power by the immigration officials. It makes Malaysia look barbaric in the eyes of bona fide tourists.

Hishammuddin must state once and for all the Department of Immigration's standard operating procedure for detaining suspected illegal immigrants and explain why nude squats were required of these two women who had in effect turned themselves in upon realizing their mistake and posed no danger, as evident by their subsequent release without any charge. This incident has re-opened questions raised in 2005 when the police made a female suspect do the infamous nude squats which remain yet unanswered.

Due to this black incident, Malaysia is once again in the news for all the wrong reasons and this incident has just about neutralised every effort put in by Tourism Malaysia.

* Teresa Kok Suh Sim, DAP Wanita National Secretary, Selangor State Senior EXCO for Investment, Industry & Trade & MP for Seputeh