Immigration Archives – New Naratif

Explainer II: “The Political Decision is to Release Them”: The 12-Year Struggle to End Child Immigration Detention in Malaysia

by Joshua Low and Xiao Ming Tang 19 July 202310 August 2023

New Naratif’s two-part explainer looks into the issue of child immigration detention in Malaysia. Building on the first article, this explainer examines the Home Affairs Minister’s announcement that he will release children from detention centres, the historical struggle to end child detention, the forces hindering change, and the steps government, civil society, and readers can take towards protecting all children regardless of migration status.

An illustration in colour pencil and watercolour, divided into one large central image and three panels on the left and right sides. In the centre, a woman in a t-shirt and skirt bows her head and reaches out to her partner, a man in a t-shirt and slacks who is wiping tears off his face. A Malaysian flag hangs in the background, red and white stripes forming bars behind the couple. In the six panels, three on the left and three on the right, the same couple stand at a counter, speaking to different immigration officers in each panel. There are small Malaysian flags on the countertop. The first officer looks stern; the second holds up their paperwork, laughing at it; the third shakes a form at the man angrily; the fourth beckons to another officer; the fifth looks apprehensively at another set of documents; the sixth points to a counter off in the distance, directing them into another series of altercations.

Feature

Amid Tourism Push, Malaysia Keeps Binational Families Apart

by Liani MK and Charis Loke 21 January 202221 January 2022

Pandemic travel and immigration rules in Malaysia have left many binational families stressed, strained and separated for months, with officials deeming foreign spouses “non-essential”. Some have turned to online groups to support and advocate for each other.

Podcast

Can Malaysia’s Cycle of Statelessness Be Broken?

by Chen Yih Wen and Deborah Germaine Augustin 5 November 202121 January 2022

Deborah Augustin speaks to Haijan Omar, Dr. Vilashini Somiah and Wong Kueng Hui, one of the many stateless people in the Malaysian state of Sabah, about his decade-long legal battle to gain citizenship in Malaysia.

Opinion

The Anti-Vietnamese Legacy of Kem Ley

by Tim Frewer 16 July 202125 January 2022

There were two sides to Kem Ley, the beloved Cambodian activist who was murdered five years ago: the calm, insightful public intellectual, and the hyperbolic nationalist who wanted to rid Cambodia of “illegal Vietnamese immigrants”, writes Tim Frewer.

Podcast

The Plight of Transnational Families in Malaysia

by Yi Peng Yap and Deborah Germaine Augustin 30 April 202124 June 2021

Deborah Augustin speaks to Bina Ramanand, founding member of Family Frontiers and co-founder of the Foreign Spouses Support Group; and Naz, a Malaysian in a transnational marriage about the challenges that transnational families face in the country.