Saravanan: Government should be held accountable for spread of immigrant colonies

KUALA LUMPUR: The government and its agencies should be held responsible for not preventing immigrant colonies from spreading, especially in the Selayang market, said Deputy Youth and Sports Minister Datuk M. Saravanan.
"Why look for Islamic State (IS) sympathizers and terror cells when you can't address issues that are right in front of your eyes?" he said after meeting the family of M. Kamarajan, 33, who was stabbed to death outside Selayang Market in the early hours of Jan 13.
Saravanan was alluding to the recent spate of violent skirmishes that occurred in the Selayang market on Jan 13 which also left another man and a toddler injured as a consequence.
He warned that Kamarajan's death has to serve as a warning to authorities to take action and clamp down on foreigners that were allegedly involved in these attacks.
"Operations shouldn't just be done for a week and then forgotten. A man has already died, let's not forget this and deal with this issue immediately," he said, adding that he will be meeting with the Home Ministry in the near future to discuss the influx of immigrants in Selayang Market.
Saravanan said the Immigration Department needs to take a more proactive approach to handle the matter.
"Selayang Market should not end up being a colony of immigrants, in social media its painted as though there is an issue between the people from Myanmar and the Indians, but it's not. Tomorrow there could be another incident with another race. This has nothing
to do with conflict among races," he said.
The victim's wife, S. Sumathi, 27, who has two children, a daughter and a son, said her husband, who was a lorry driver, was the sole breadwinner for the family.
"I don't know the details as to what happened to him because he was alone that night. He was a good man," she said.
Saravanan, via MIC, donated RM10,000 to the family to help her through this difficult time.