Group mulls boycott of airlines over Sabah deportation

MANILA, Philippines — To protest the ongoing massive deportations of Filipinos in Sabah, an alliance of overseas Filipino workers’ groups worldwide on Thursday said it is considering a boycott of Malaysia’s flag carrier - the Malaysian Airlines. “With the rate Malaysia is forcibly expelling undocumented migrants, including thousands of Filipinos, we are seriously considering calling for a migrants’ boycott of Malaysian Airlines," Migrante International chairperson Connie Bragas Regalado said in a press statement. Malaysia’s Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak earlier announced the start of “large scale" deportations on undocumented migrants starting August. "We target at least 100,000 to 150,000 people to be deported," Najib told reporters recently, adding that his government has already allotted a budget of $15.6 million to finance the operation. He furthered said that the volunteer force Relas will again be deployed to carry out the massive arrests and deportations. “We are certain migrants’ rights in Sabah will once again be trampled upon by immigration authorities, most especially the dreaded Relas, who are paid a hefty sum for every undocumented worker they apprehend," Regalado said. Regalado recalled that during a similar large-scale operation in 2005, the Relas were given police powers to arrest any suspected undocumented worker, giving 80 ringgit incentive per head. Regalado urged the Philippine government to come up with a policy statement condemning the inhumane arrests and deportations to protect the Filipinos in Sabah. She noted that the recent agreement between the Philippine-Malaysia Working Group on Migrant Workers to conduct “humane" deportations amounts to nothing “as the Relas blood hounds are set to be unleashed once the ‘Open Season’ on undocumented migrants in Malaysia starts in a few days." Once decision to boycott is arrived at, Migrante and allied groups will campaign among Filipinos migrants and foreign friends to avoid the Malaysian flag carrier, said Regalado, who is also the general secretary of the newly formed International Migrants Alliance (IMA. The alliance claims to be the largest formation of migrant groups worldwide, with 70 organizations and more than 32 association members of different nationalities in 25 countries.- GMANews.TV