By LIM CHIA YING
Jainabbi Sidek may be the oldest living refugee in Malaysia.
She has been in this country since she was 25 years old, after escaping her native Myanmar that, even then, had already been plagued by internal conflict.
The frail 70-plus-year-old Rohingya woman stays in a shabby rented room in a small shoplot shared with 10 other people in Selayang.
She said she could not walk far these days as she was asthmatic and got tired easily.
Jainabbi broke down as she recollected memories of her husband who died fighting as a soldier while her two sons had gone missing.
Cramped existence: The interview with Jainabbi being held in the room which she shares with a friend so that the rental fee could be shared. The room is the size of the average Malaysian’s washroom. “My fellow villagers urged me to escape along with them, so I did,” she said during an interview with the StarMetro.
“We were brought to her home by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Helping to translate the entire interview was the UNHCR translator Shah Alam, a Myanma refugee himself.
The UNHCR had provided Jainabbi with financial assistance for a few years before a donor stepped in to help her about two years ago.
Businessman Patrick Tan said he came to know of the plight of refugees in Malaysia after being told about them by a friend who was working in the UNHCR.
“I already have enough for myself, so it’s a blessing that I can contribute in my own little way to help Jainabbi,” said Tan, 38.
Interestingly, he had never met her in person for the last two years that he has been donating, as UNHCR acted on his behalf.
So Tan was naturally excited when he got to meet Jainabbi for the first time as he was brought along by UNHCR to personally hand to her the monthly allowance of RM500.
(Tan contributes RM1,000 every two months once, which is then split to RM500 monthly).
“My wife and I have made it our commitment to set aside some money each month to be given to charity. Previously, we have been giving to the needy, Buddhist centres and orphanages,” he said.
Tan was rather shy and humble about his good deed that he asked us to focus more on the refugee issue instead.
“My understanding of refugees previously was that they lived in camps. During a visit to India, I saw in Dharamsala the living quarters that were provided for Tibetan refugees and how they were well-taken care of there.
“Refugees are people who have lost their country and thus their identity.
“They have no one to turn to for help and it’s quite shameful to see that they cannot find work to eke out a living,” said Tan.
He added that the government could not just ignore refugees as they were already in the country.
“The government should provide simple aid like providing them a place to gather so that people know where they are.”
He believed that a lot of Malaysians were willing to help the refugees but didn’t know where and how to find them.
Malaysia is not a party to the 1951 Convention and its Protocol relating to the status of refugees.
There is currently no legislative or administrative provisions in place for dealing with asylum-seekers or refugees in the country, hence UNHCR conducts activities related to the reception, registration, documentation and status determination of asylum-seekers and refugees.
Meanwhile, Jainabbi said she shifted from her old place, also in Selayang, about a year ago as she could not afford the high rental.
Currently, she shares her tiny room with a friend whom she befriended five years ago. Her roommate helps fork out her share of the rental of RM100 each.
UNHCR external relations officer Yante Ismail said contrary to popular perception, refugees did not want handouts but were keen to work.
“Every year on June 20, World Refugee Day is celebrated worldwide to honour the indomitable spirit and courage of the world’s refugees,” she said.
This year’s theme is ‘Real People, Real Needs’, to convey the message that refugees are like everyone else with very real needs.
The UNCHR said they too needed the compassion and a humanitarian space to be able to rebuild their lives, having lost everything when they fled.
As of end of March 2009, there are some 47,600 refugees and asylum-seekers registered with the UNHCR in Malaysia, 42,309 of whom are from Myanmar.
Those wanting to help can call UNHCR at 03-2141 1322 or visit www.unhcr.org.my
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