Human Rights Watch (HRW) is urging the Malaysian government to prioritise the investigation into the July 4 abduction of Myanmar refugee activist Ma Thuzar Maung, her husband and their three children.
Ma Thuzar Maung, who chairs the Myanmar Muslim Refugee Community and the Myanmar Migrant Workers Committee, has worked closely with Myanmar’s opposition National Unity Government, according to Myanmar rights activists.
Ma Thuzar Maung, 46, her husband Saw Than Tin Win, 43, their daughter Ma Poeh Khing Maung, 16, and sons Maung Aung Myint Maung, 21, and Maung Thukha Maung, 17, were abducted by unidentified men from their residence in Ampang Jaya, Kuala Lumpur, on July 4, according to HRW, which reviewed CCTV footage and interviewed witnesses.
“We fear that Thuzar Maung and her family were abducted in a planned operation and are at grave risk,” said Elaine Pearson, Asia director at HRW. “The Malaysian government should urgently act to locate the family and ensure their safety,” she added.
Thuzar Maung is an outspoken supporter and a long-time advocate for the pro-democracy movement in Myanmar as well as refugee and migrant rights in Malaysia.
She fled Myanmar for Malaysia in 2015 to escape escalating violence against Muslims. All five family members are recognized by the United Nations Refugee Agency as refugees in Malaysia.
Malaysia, however, is far from being the safest country for refugees.
A few weeks after the coup in February 2021, its government deported more than 1,000 people back to Myanmar, defying a court order and appeals from human rights groups who said those deported included Rohingya residents of Myanmar.
In October 2022, Malaysia deported 150 Myanmar nationals. Rights groups and the National Unity Government expressed alarm, saying military defectors were among the deportees. Six former Myanmar navy officers were arrested in Malaysia in September 2022 and deported on October 6.
According to a statement from HRW today, a group of men drove into the gated community where Thuzar Maung and her family lived at about 4.30pm on July 4. The driver reportedly told security guards that the group of men were police.
Two hours later, Thuzar Maung was on the phone with a friend who heard her shout to her husband that unknown men were entering the house, before the call was disconnected, HRW said.
At about 7.10pm, the same car and the two cars owned by Thuzar Maung’s family were seen leaving the compound. Thuzar Maung’s phone and the phones of her husband and children appear to have been immediately turned off, as no calls have gone through since.
Malaysian media outlets have reported that all of Thuzar Maung’s social media accounts have been dormant since she and her family were abducted.
CCTV footage at the guard booth captured the license plate of the “police” car, which Malaysian police have since identified as fake. The footage also captured the black-gloved hand of the driver of one of Thuzar Maung’s cars holding out the gate card to exit the compound.
Vehicle logs show that the same car had entered the gated community on June 19. Thuzar Maung’s colleagues who entered the house on July 5 said there were no signs of robbery, HRW reported.
Her friends and colleagues expressed concern that she was targeted for her activism. Police in Kuala Lumpur are investigating the case.
“Foreign governments should press Malaysian authorities to quickly uncover the location of this family,” Pearson said. “Myanmar activists are apparently at risk even when they criticize the military junta from a country where they have sought asylum.”
