New Storm Erupts After Detained Foreign Wife Is Freed

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Vietnamese Tran Thi Thoai Trin was today reunited with her husband Yeoh Wei Chong and baby boy, Jesper Yeoh Zhun. (Yeoh Wei Chong pic)KLANG: A 25-year-old Vietnamese woman who was detained despite being in the country legally, was freed today – but her release only came with another controversy.
Tran Thi Thoai Trin, a mother of a two-year-old boy, was brought handcuffed to the magistrate’s court where she pleaded guilty and paid a fine of RM350.
Tran was charged with not recording her particulars in a contact tracing book, as required by law, before entering a restaurant on the day of her arrest on March 13.
She was released three days before the expiry of a 14-day remand order, for what should have been a compoundable offence. However, her lawyer said that he had been informed that it was not compoundable if it involved a foreigner.
Her lawyer V Vemal Arasan said he was informed of the matter by deputy public prosecutor (DPP) Ermadie Asmadi.
Lawyer Vemal Arasan says the deputy public prosecutor informed him that if foreigners failed to check-in before entering a premises, the offence is not compoundable.It is not immediately known if there have been other cases of foreigners being charged with the offence without a compound being issued.
A health ministry official expressed surprise over the DPP’s statement and asked Tran to file a complaint.
Vemal said police told Tran when she was arrested that she would be issued a compound for violation of the Covid-19 standard operating procedure (SOP) and she agreed to pay the fine.
It is mandatory for people entering premises to check-in with the MySejahtera QR code or to record their particulars in the contact tracing book under Rule 15 of the Prevention And Control of Infectious Diseases Regulations.
Before the case was heard, magistrate Amirul Asyraf ordered police to remove Tran’s handcuffs after Vemal protested that his client was not a common criminal.
Vemal held that Tran did not commit a criminal offence and was being charged with a Covid-19 SOP breach, which is a summons case.
Property agent Yeoh Wei Chong, 29, told Vemal that his wife was “extremely exhausted” after being detained for 11 days at the Immigration Depot in Sepang, a centre for illegal migrants.
Vemal said: “While he is grateful that she has been released, he feels a great injustice has been done as she was detained for so long despite producing valid documents.”
Tran’s case grabbed wide attention after police arrested her and obtained a 14-day remand order to verify her marriage certificate and her multiple entry visa that permits her to remain in Malaysia until January next year.
Vemal had questioned the need for a 14-day detention when the documents could have been verified “within hours”.
The lawyer said that although the Immigration Act allowed for such detention, Tran’s case was an exception as she was in possession of valid documents to be in the country. - FMT

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