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KUALA LUMPUR: Some flee in boats. Some hide on the stilts under their houses. Others run into the forest.
Across Malaysia’s Sabah region, stateless residents and undocumented migrants are fleeing public health officials conducting COVID-19 testing, fearing arrest or deportation.
The race to tackle COVID-19 in Sabah, Malaysia’s largest palm oil-producing state, is getting complicated by an estimated 1 million undocumented immigrants and stateless residents who make up a third of the population.
Sabah accounts for nearly half of Malaysia’s 54,775 COVID-19 infections and more than half of its 335 deaths despite having just one-tenth of the Southeast Asian country’s population.
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But health officials fear the real picture could be much worse as people evade screening tests for fear of being detained or deported.
“We see the authorities coming, we do what we have always done: run,” Ahmad Han, an undocumented immigrant who lives on the outskirts of Sabah’s Semporna district, told Reuters by phone.
As of November 17, nearly a fifth of the state’s infections involved foreigners, according to government data obtained by Reuters.
They included stateless indigenous communities, as well as refugees and migrant workers from the neighboring Philippines and Indonesia, countries that have the highest number of coronavirus cases in the region.
Sabah has recorded 192 deaths from COVID-19 so far. Of the 176 deaths recorded in the state as of Nov. 16, 63 people died even before receiving treatment, including 40 foreigners, according to data provided by Sabah’s Cabinet Minister Masidi Manjun. The data included both documented and undocumented migrants.
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“Many would flee whenever they saw uniformed nurses or an ambulance,” Masidi, who is also the state spokesman for COVID-19-related matters, told Reuters.
“We are constantly trying to convince them that they will not be arrested or deported when they undergo COVID-19 tests. But the response has been tepid to say the least.”
Malaysia’s crackdown on undocumented immigrants since the start of the pandemic has also compounded fears among vulnerable communities, human rights groups say. The country has detained thousands, including during the closures, in what it says are efforts to stem the spread of the virus.
“CHALLENGING”
Coronavirus infections have increased in Sabah since state elections in September.
Movement restrictions have already affected palm oil production, a key export for Malaysia, while an emergency has been declared in an eastern region of Sabah to avoid by-elections during the pandemic.
Deprived of income due to lockdown measures and ineligible for government aid, many of the undocumented depend on odd jobs to survive and fear that being forced into self-quarantine would leave their families unable to fend for themselves.
Doctors in Sabah say some migrants delay seeking treatment even after becoming ill, likely leading to more serious COVID-19 infections and a higher death rate in the state.
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“Many enter only when they are at the stage where they have trouble breathing,” said a doctor at Tawau Hospital in eastern Sabah, who declined to be named because staff were not authorized to speak to the media.
Minister Masidi said health officials were working with aid groups and local authorities to reach vulnerable groups.
On the islands off Semporna, the Bajau Laut community of marine nomads, most of whom are stateless, only came forward after health officials joined aid agencies to persuade them to undergo health screening. screening in exchange for supplies such as rice, oil, baby formula and sanitary pads.
But even after being tested, many fled for fear of being quarantined on the ground.
“Logistically, it is a big challenge,” said Ahmad Kamil of the Sabah-based Surah Al Falah aid group.
“Many communities live far inland or on remote islands, making it difficult to trace contacts or transport patients to health facilities.”
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