The migrant rights group Tenaganita has slammed Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Shahidan Kassim over his suggestion to turn human trafficking camps into tourist attraction.

It said that it is “nonsensical and absolutely preposterous” to describe a place of torture, slavery, sale and ransom of people, possibly in the thousands, as “very nice” and good for tourism.

“This suggestion clearly shows disrespect, flippancy and irreverence to the hundreds of refugees and migrants that have been killed and buried in the mass graves.

“By turning the death camps into tourist attractions will not at all deter human trafficking activities; in fact the human traffickers as organised and sophisticated as they are in their operation would have found another place to trade the refugees and migrants,” Tenaganita said in a statement today.

The group was responding to a report by The Star Online on Sunday that quoted the minister suggesting that the abandoned human trafficking camps found in Perlis could be turned into tourist attractions, and he would discuss with the police and the Perlis government on plans of preserving the site.

"Everything is still intact. There was a surau, a wooden mosque, a house for an imam, vegetable farm and many more. There was also some Thai writing inside the mosque.

"Let tourists see where it all happened. With this as a new tourism spot, it will also deter human trafficking activities from taking place as there will be more people coming in and out," he was quoted as saying.

Condemnation on social media

Some netizens gave the minister the benefit of the doubt, suggesting that perhaps Shahidan had meant something similar to a holocaust museum, which are often former Nazi concentration and extermination camps.

Overwhelmingly however, the response to Shahidan’s suggestion on social media was that of condemnation .

Meanwhile, Tenaganita said the government’s time would be better spent investigating and prosecuting the human traffickers, and preventing a recurrence, instead of turning the place into a tourist attraction.

It added that it is the government’s policy and corruption that had made human trafficking profitable.

“In fact, the non-recognition of refugees, and non-existence of a comprehensive policy for recruitment, placement and employment of migrants have become an opportunity for authorities and human traffickers for making money.

“It is simply a gross violation of someone’s right to life. When we lose sight of this core value of life and dignity, then as citizens of this nation, we have lost everything that gives us dignity as persons and as a nation,” it said.