A non-governmental organisation today urged the police to immediately stop using the codename Ops Gagak Hitam (Operation Black Crow) for raids involving Africans as it was racist.

Tenaganita director Irene Fernandez said today the codename ... smacks of racism and shows up well the perceptions of the police force towards migrant workers.

She said the use of such a codename violated the resolution against all forms of racism adopted at last years World Conference against Racism (WCAR) in Durban, South Africa.

It is also an insult to Malaysians as we are also blacks but in different shades only, she said in a statement. Tenaganita involves itself in both womens and migrant workers issues.

Last week, a 600-member team of police and immigration personnel arrested 204 Africans in a pre-dawn sweep codenamed Ops Gagak Hitam aimed at rounding-up Africans in Kuala Lumpur without valid travel documents.

Those arrested were later transported from Kuala Lumpur to a detention camp in Pahang on 10 trucks but 153 of them jumped off the vehicles and escaped before being re-arrested later. Fifteen of them however, are still at large.

Overzealous

Fernandez also urged police to act judiciously and treat illegal immigrants, particularly those re-arrested, humanely.

Recent testimonies of former detainees reveal that those who attempted to escape when rearrested were tortured and beaten, she said.

She also expressed concern that following political pressure, police may be overzealous and even detain foreign workers with legal status just to obtain public confidence.

We cannot punish a whole community or race just because a few of them created problems, she said.

Individual immigrants who have been a nuisance or have committed crimes must be dealt with according to the law and allowed the right to defend themselves in court, she added.

Fernandez said the a comprehensive study was needed on the high number of illegal foreign workers in the country to uncover the root cause of the problem.

As before, we call on the authorities to deal with the cause of the problem and not just take reactionary actions, she said.