Recounting the Wang Kelian horror

Author: Discovery of mass graves a grim reminder of brutality of human trafficking

PETALING JAYA: Veteran journalist Datuk S. Arulldas (pic) was on the trail of a Penang-based human trafficking syndicate in 2015 when information from his police contacts led him to Perlis.

There, when he and his photographer were at a coffeeshop, they overheard other customers talking about mass graves.

He became curious and decided to find out more.

His nose for news led him to the Malaysia-Thailand border, a known hub for trafficking syndicates.

It was there that he came across the mass graves at Wang Kelian.

It took him and his photographer, Sayuti Zainudin, several tries to locate the abandoned camp up in the hills in Wang Kelian. After a trek of three hours, they came across the mass graves.

The bodies were later reported to be of ethnic Rohingya.

“The mass graves, filled with 139 victims who had been stripped of their dignity in life and in death, was a grim reminder of the brutality of human trafficking,” said Arulldas.

The 69-year-old wrote a book, Mass Graves: Uncovering the Killing Fields of Wang Kelian, released in 2017, detailing his experience.

“The discovery at Wang Kelian was not just a breakthrough in my career, but a heartbreaking testament to the atrocities faced by countless human trafficking victims,” said Arulldas, who had previously worked as a crime reporter for The Malay Mail.

His book will be available for sale at the Kuala Lumpur International Book Fair 2024, which will take place on May 25 in Kuala Lumpur.

In May 2015, 139 graves were discovered in 28 abandoned migrant “prison camps” close to the Malaysia-Thailand border in Perlis, as well as similar graves on the Thai side of the border.

Investigations revealed that the victims came from Myanmar and Bangladesh and were victims of human trafficking syndicates.

In January 2019, a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) was formed and 48 witnesses, including Arulldas, were called to testify over a span of six months.