REFUGEES in Kuala Lumpur's suburban slums say they have been tortured in Malaysia's detention centres.
Gruesome personal accounts include claims of beatings with rattan canes and whippings - a fate that could await the 800 refugees the Federal Government intends to send to Malaysia as part of its controversial detainee swap.
Lay Maung, who was caned three times, said he was tied up and made to turn his head away from the prison officer so he could not see his face during one ordeal.
With the refugee's arms and legs extended, a man wielding a 1.2m rattan cane, pulled back and sliced the stick into his bare buttocks.
Like the 55,000 Chin Burmese refugees, Mr Maung's crime was that he wasn't a Malaysian citizen.
His UN Commission on Human Rights refugee card expired the day before he was arrested on the street in late 2009.
"I fainted after one cane," he said through an interpreter.
"They make you turn away from the man who canes you so you don't see his face. You can't sit or lie down for days.
"I spent a year in prison after that."
Pa Khau, 47, wanted in Burma because he is from the Christian minority, says he was whipped three times. And, pointing to his scarred, crippled hands, he told how soldiers broke his thumbs and fingers.
"The police and (paramilitary civilian corps) RELA pick on us because they want to make money from us," Mr Khau said.
"When they took me to the Thai border, after a year in prison, there were refugee agents waiting to meet us. Those men pay money back to the Malaysian immigration officers to let us back in."
The Herald Sun unearthed dozens of alleged brutality cases involving Malaysian authorities.
While human rights groups criticise the tactics, RELA, immigration officers and police are supported by Malaysian law.
That law will apply to the 800 boat people to be shipped to Kuala Lumpur by Prime Minister Julia Gillard.
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