The shocking news this week that 13 Filipino children had died as a result of being deported from Malaysia with their parents for being illegal overstayers set me thinking about how nasty the whole deportation process is. Most deportees are treated like low-grade criminals and are consequently deprived of many basic freedoms such as freedom of movement, freedom from congestion, a right to adequate food and water, and freedom from disease.

The fact that deportation centers are by their very nature prisons means that all the problems of jails are visited upon deportees, multiplied several fold by the fact of congestion. I know what I’m talking about as I have visited several Filipino friends being deported from Saudi Arabia for being overstayers, and have seen with my own eyes the sorry conditions in which they are kept.

Herded into cells with no air-conditioning and no fans, the heat is sweltering. Outbreaks of the flu and other easily communicable diseases are widespread because of the overcrowding. Communal toilets are a fact and the food served deportees is low-grade and in one instance was just thrown down on the floor in a huge metal plate, upon which voracious deportees threw themselves, scuffling to each get more than the other. The lack of dignity in the whole deportation process is quite disheartening.

Malaysia’s Deputy Home Minister Zainal Abidin Zain surprisingly had the nerve to deny that Malaysian deportation centers were overcrowded and insisted that adequate food and drinking water were being provided to the detained Filipinos. I find this hard to believe, as I saw the ABS-CBN television footage of one such deportation camp, whicah showed hundreds of families herded into a small space, sleeping on concrete floors, and trying to keep their children as comfortable as possible given the strained conditions. It looked pretty miserable to me.

What the Malaysian official and many others are suffering from is a lack of compassion and understanding. I think it is a class thing, since most well off Malaysians and Saudis will never be deported from a foreign country for having overstayed for economic reasons. This causes them to have no empathy for the deportees in general, and problems that deportees face are usually ignored or obscured from public interest.

What is so alarming in Malaysia’s case is the sheer number of Filipinos living illegally in Sabah. Already 64,000 Filipinos have been sent home, 4,000 more are on their way, and many more remain in Malaysia. The problem here is that most of these Filipinos living in Malaysia are from strife-ridden Mindanao, and have been commuting between the two islands for decades with no visas.

A common culture (Malay) and religion (Islam), means that the ties that bind the southern Philippines to Malaysia are many. Unlike in Saudi Arabia, where most deportees are non-Arab, and mostly men without their families, in Malaysia most of the Pinoy deportees are whole families. Young and healthy adult men can usually easily fight off the flu virus picked up from the crowded conditions, but weak babies and infants cannot, succumbing easily to dehydration and diarrhea.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, despite saying otherwise, should take this up urgently with Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Muhammad. A South East Asian Union should be formed between the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia, along the lines of the European Union, allowing citizens from each country to move freely among member states.

Filipino families that have lived for years in Malaysia, even illegally, should be allowed to stay and legalize their stay as long as they haven’t been involved in criminal activity. Malaysia should also consider giving nationality to many of these immigrants, especially the ones born in Malaysia and who have grown deep roots in local communities.

It is a sad fact that these anti-overstayer campaigns themselves are to blame for the humanitarian disasters where thousands of illegals are maltreated. Malaysia and other countries that regularly deport illegals, should take another look at how the whole process is undertaken. Most of these countries admit that they need foreign labor to help build their economies, but xenophobia and misplaced nationalism often raise their ugly heads and start these witch-hunts against overstayers. It is well known that once a certain batch of overstayers are deported, they are quickly replaced by new foreign workers who may also in time become overstayers themselves. Overstayers should be given a reasonable time period to legalize their stay, and if they fail to do so they should be deported swiftly.

It’s when the deportation process drags on for weeks that the harm is done to the deportees in the form of disease, malnutrition and mental anguish. If we claim to be humane and advanced societies, we must find a better way of dealing with overstayers.