COMMENT | It is a sad truth that our government is often only shamed by damning international reports, such as the one recently published by The Guardian, detailing the horrific conditions at immigration detention centres.

These conditions are something local media and activists have been trying to call attention to for a long time, and hopefully, other international media will continue and follow up on highlighting this abhorrent issue.

The conditions described in The Guardian seem consistent with - even milder than, perhaps - reports from those who have been working on this issue for a long time, and did not mention sexual abuse and other forms of exploitation that are also likely to take place in these centres.

There are a number of defining characteristics of immigration detention centres that are at the root of why these atrocities happen.

A dumping ground for men, women and children

To begin with, they are in essence treated as a dumping ground.

The people sent here are those the government deems unwanted in Malaysia, deserving of punishment for being here illegally, not worth the cost of sending back to their home country, and having none of the rights Malaysian citizens are technically entitled to.

Perhaps the most important truth about the detainees is that anyone who might care about the fate or well-being of these detainees are too far away and/or too poor and powerless to do anything at all to help their loved ones.

What you get as a result is essentially nothing short of a concentration camp - a place full of people you have been conditioned to resent, and who you are under no pressure, whatsoever, to treat any better than you would a stray dog.

It is worth noting that it is not only men who suffer at these detention centres. Women and children are also incarcerated (where else would the Malaysian government send them?), and often suffer the same shocking abuse and degradation.

Concentration camp-style abuse

Given how little these detainees are valued, one can almost imagine that if they could get away with it, the government would simply kill these people, in true concentration camp style.

The fact that so many preventable deaths occur in these camps lends credence to such a notion, however outlandish it sounds. The value of life here has just been reduced to nothing.

However, since actually killing people is in fact too outlandish, even for the Malaysian government, what results is an incarcerated population that the higher ups want to expend the least amount of resources and attention on, and from whom many of the lower downs want simply to extract the maximum amount of exploitable value.

Thus, the probably underpaid people on the front lines in these detention centres are conditioned to dehumanise the detainees, and see them as meat to be punished and exploited, not human beings who deserve dignity and decency.

Parallels to abuse and deaths in police custody

Such a situation will sound familiar to anyone who has paid attention to the abuse and deaths in police custody as well, where the same pattern and system of dehumanisation runs rampant.

The powers that be, whether in immigration detention centres or police lock-ups, often come to unleash the full fury of unbridled human cruelty on detainees - often simply because they can.

This spectrum of abuse often includes severe beatings, rape and the deprivation of food, sleep and basic hygiene.

Such places usually have a black economy, as guards will find ways to extract any and all value to which a detainee may have access.

Thus, the result is often a reign of terror designed around exploitation and profiteering, enforced by thugs who act with impunity, because of how severely cut off from the rest of the world the detainee population is - just not enough people (who matter) care.

Collusion and profiteering in human trafficking

One aspect of this appalling situation we must focus our attention on is how and why there are so many undocumented migrants in Malaysia in the first place.

If one relied solely on government propaganda, one might be tempted to think that this is a result of malintent hordes, clawing their way into Malaysia to steal our jobs or wreck our lives as criminals.

The truth is more likely that there is a very vibrant, profitable black market in human trafficking, from which those in positions of government profit significantly.

Perhaps what is happening is that human traffickers and immigration officers are working hand in glove to create a revolving door of undocumented migrants.

Perhaps the scenario is one where authorities allow cracks that traffickers use to slip migrants into Malaysia (for a cut, of course), traffickers tip off the authorities, authorities catch the migrants, and the migrants then either pay a hefty bribe, are sent back through the revolving door, or are detained indefinitely at one of these immigration detention hellholes.

One has trouble imagining a more disgusting scenario.

Tomorrow: Part 2: Brutality against migrants should spur us to act for change

NATHANIEL TAN is grateful for the efforts of organisations like Tenaganita, Suaram and the UNHCR in advocating for the rights and welfare of undocumented migrants. He is sure they could use your help.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.