Lonely, beaten and ill, but still hopeful: refugees in Malaysia
A CROWD of men, women and children waited on the street in front of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees' office in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.
The barred gate of the cage-like enclosure was kept locked by a burly guard. The crowd surged forward when it seemed more would be permitted inside the barriers.
Emotions can run high here. In 2004, an asylum-seeker set himself alight at the gates and died of his burns. Stateless, sometimes unemployed and often ill, the dispirited group at the gate was one small illustration of the appalling plight of refugees across Asia.
Rohingya man Abdul Gappoor from Burma belongs to one of the worst-treated minorities in the world, his people harried and oppressed and refused citizenship by even their own nation.
Mr Gappoor has been on the run for years. He and his wife, Zainab, lost two young children to illness in the process. He was arrested in Kuantan in Malaysia in 1992 and since then his life has been an unfolding tragedy.
He said that when he was deported to Thailand, border officials sold him to agents, who in turn sold him to a Thai fishing boat captain. He was beaten and scarred. He carried a letter explaining his circumstances.
"If I were deported, I would be imprisoned and killed by Burmese authorities," it said.
For Mr Gappoor, Australia would be a welcome change. "Life would be easier in Australia."
Malaysia is home to 93,000 registered refugees or asylum-seekers, nine in 10 of them from Burma. They mostly live at large in the community, but theirs is a precarious existence. They cannot legally work, nor send their children to school. Malaysian police regularly conduct raids for undocumented workers. If they are picked up, they may have to endure a stretch in one of the nation's much-criticised immigration detention centres.
The UNHCR is confident the asylum-seekers Australia is sending to Malaysia will not go straight to detention camps. UNHCR spokeswoman Yante Ismail said the organisation's position was "generally positive" regarding the agreement, and it believed the Australian asylum-seekers would be detained for only a short time, for identification purposes. Life was hard for refugees in Malaysia, she said, seeing as the nation was not a signatory to the UN Refugee Convention. "There are no legal provisions here for them."
Mohammad Ali, another Rohingya refugee, had a tatty letter he brandished almost as a good luck charm. The 39-year-old had learned the hard way that documents are an essential element in the armoury of a refugee. He was arrested not because he had committed a crime but because he had no documents. "There was no problem," he insists. "I didn't do anything. I just came here because I wanted to find work."
After his arrest, he spent five months in detention in Alostar, in the Malaysian state of Kedah. He left his wife and two young children behind in Burma, and sends money to them as often as he can.
Another man standing in the burning sun, Myo Win Aung, 45, maintained his composure. Originally from Rangoon, in Burma, he fled to Malaysia in 1993 because his political views made his life impossible at home. He was detained in Semenyih detention centre, outside Kuala Lumpur, for five months because he didn't have the correct documents. Now he earns a living selling vegetables in the central market, and dreams of a better life. He likes the idea of Australia.
"I think Australia is friendly to Asian people," he said.
The idea of returning to Burma makes him laugh. "No, no," he said. "That would be no good."
Link: :http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/lonely-beaten-and-ill-but-still-hopeful-refugees-in-malaysia/story-fn59niix-1226052859344
The barred gate of the cage-like enclosure was kept locked by a burly guard. The crowd surged forward when it seemed more would be permitted inside the barriers.
Emotions can run high here. In 2004, an asylum-seeker set himself alight at the gates and died of his burns. Stateless, sometimes unemployed and often ill, the dispirited group at the gate was one small illustration of the appalling plight of refugees across Asia.
Rohingya man Abdul Gappoor from Burma belongs to one of the worst-treated minorities in the world, his people harried and oppressed and refused citizenship by even their own nation.
Mr Gappoor has been on the run for years. He and his wife, Zainab, lost two young children to illness in the process. He was arrested in Kuantan in Malaysia in 1992 and since then his life has been an unfolding tragedy.
He said that when he was deported to Thailand, border officials sold him to agents, who in turn sold him to a Thai fishing boat captain. He was beaten and scarred. He carried a letter explaining his circumstances.
"If I were deported, I would be imprisoned and killed by Burmese authorities," it said.
For Mr Gappoor, Australia would be a welcome change. "Life would be easier in Australia."
Malaysia is home to 93,000 registered refugees or asylum-seekers, nine in 10 of them from Burma. They mostly live at large in the community, but theirs is a precarious existence. They cannot legally work, nor send their children to school. Malaysian police regularly conduct raids for undocumented workers. If they are picked up, they may have to endure a stretch in one of the nation's much-criticised immigration detention centres.
The UNHCR is confident the asylum-seekers Australia is sending to Malaysia will not go straight to detention camps. UNHCR spokeswoman Yante Ismail said the organisation's position was "generally positive" regarding the agreement, and it believed the Australian asylum-seekers would be detained for only a short time, for identification purposes. Life was hard for refugees in Malaysia, she said, seeing as the nation was not a signatory to the UN Refugee Convention. "There are no legal provisions here for them."
Mohammad Ali, another Rohingya refugee, had a tatty letter he brandished almost as a good luck charm. The 39-year-old had learned the hard way that documents are an essential element in the armoury of a refugee. He was arrested not because he had committed a crime but because he had no documents. "There was no problem," he insists. "I didn't do anything. I just came here because I wanted to find work."
After his arrest, he spent five months in detention in Alostar, in the Malaysian state of Kedah. He left his wife and two young children behind in Burma, and sends money to them as often as he can.
Another man standing in the burning sun, Myo Win Aung, 45, maintained his composure. Originally from Rangoon, in Burma, he fled to Malaysia in 1993 because his political views made his life impossible at home. He was detained in Semenyih detention centre, outside Kuala Lumpur, for five months because he didn't have the correct documents. Now he earns a living selling vegetables in the central market, and dreams of a better life. He likes the idea of Australia.
"I think Australia is friendly to Asian people," he said.
The idea of returning to Burma makes him laugh. "No, no," he said. "That would be no good."
Link: :http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/lonely-beaten-and-ill-but-still-hopeful-refugees-in-malaysia/story-fn59niix-1226052859344
