The Sabah immigration department knows nothing about the death of two Filipino child deportees and is awaiting official reports on the matter, said its director Baharon Talib.

He said his office has not received any information from the Philippine authorities or anyone else about the deaths, but will inquire upon his return to Kota Kinabalu this weekend. He is currently in Putrajaya on official business.

"Nobody told us. The Philippine embassy has not informed us of any deaths, I don't have any information, and nobody else has reported it to me," he said when contacted this afternoon.

Baharon was asked about the death of Timah Basir, 13, and Nurhani Nurmin, 3, who succumbed to health complications following their detention at the Menggatal detention centre in Sabah.

When contacted, officials from the Philippines' Department of Social Welfare and Development said Timah had died some time during the Sept 29-30 trip from Sabah to Zamboanga City in Mindanao. The cause of death was said to be 'cardiopulmonary arrest secondary to severe malnutrition and hypoglycaemia'.

Nurhani - who is not related to Timah as previously reported - died of 'chronic gastroenteritis, severe malnutrition, severe pneumonia secondary to respiratory arrest' at the Zamboanga City Medical Centre on the evening of her arrival.

Both children were from Sumisip, Basilan island. It is not known how long they had been detained together with their parents at Menggatal.

Asked how the sick children could have been allowed to board the ferry for the one-day journey to Zamboanga, Baharon suggested that they could have been well upon embarkation.

"If it has been ascertained that a person is not fit for travel, or a doctor confirms that someone is sick, we don't send them back. Perhaps at the point of departure (the two children) were still well," he said.

Baharon declined to comment, however, on health-related conditions surrounding the children's detention, saying this was the responsibility of the Sabah Federal Task Force on Foreign Workers.

The immigration authorities are only responsible for transporting the deportees, he added.

'Don't shirk responsibility'

The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) criticised Baharon's explanation and described it as shirking from owning up to the incidents.

"When a death happens, you cannot push it to other people. It's wrong for you to do that. If the Federal Task Force is not doing the work, then you should do something about it. It's very unfair to do this," said commissioner N Siva Subramaniam when contacted.

"We're not satisfied with the explanation. You have to be more professional in providing the information. Take the blame and improve it. If you cannot do the work, just go away and let other people do the job."

Siva, who heads the investigations and complaints working committee, said Suhakam would visit Menggatal as part of its inquiry into the deaths.

He also called upon the immigration authorities to conduct a thorough investigation and take steps to prevent such incidents from recurring.

"We feel unhappy with the conditions of medical care and, in some centres, the provision of food. As far as Menggatal is concerned, there have been far too many complaints," said Siva.

Migrant rights advocacy group Tenaganita said groups have been concerned over many aspects of the government's policy towards undocumented migrants, including the conditions at detention centres and the deportation process.

"Why are children being detained, and why are they denied proper food and living conditions? The immigration authorities cannot continue to be in a state of denial of the critical problems," said executive director Irene Fernandez.

She also raised the question of the safety and welfare of the deportees and their families upon arriving in Mindanao, which has for decades been plagued by violent conflict and natural disasters.

Last year, two-year-old Rene Nasir , died of severe dehydration during her deportation to the Philippines.

In 2002, during a mass expulsion of about 10,000 Filipino illegal immigrants from Sabah, four children died from dehydration and other ailments, while there were also reports of alleged sexual abuse.