Allow refugees to work ?

I REFER to the report “Sec-gen: UN recognised refugees to get ID cards” (The Star, Feb 2). The announcement by Home Ministry secretary-general Datuk Seri Mahmood Adam that Malaysia plans to issue identification cards to refugees who are recognised by the United Nations is highly appreciated.

This will allow them to stay in the country temporarily without the fear of being arrested as illegal immigrants and to do odd jobs.

The refugees here are constantly harassed by the enforcement authorities. Those detained are sent to detention camps while others are forcibly sent back to their homeland. The detention camps are in a deplorable condition, and many of its inmates are subject to torture by the camp wardens.

Even though the identification cards will not fully solve their problems, it will be a consolation for the 70,000 refugees in the country.

I have been working closely with some refugee groups, in particular the Tamil refugees from Sri Lanka, and have a good understanding of their problems and needs.

I have also been providing them with humanitarian and relief aid for the last 18 months with help from the local community and the UNHCR office in Kuala Lumpur.

However, I feel the Government should also provide refugees with medical treatment at government hospitals with minimal and affordable charges.

Another pressing need is education for their children. They cannot afford to send their children to schools due to the high cost. The future of these children is at stake if they grow up without any form of basic education.

I appeal to the Government to grant refugees temporary work permits to work in restaurants, factories, plantations and commercial complexes.

Allowing them to do odd jobs will not be of much help to them. I have reports of refugees who have not been paid for months for doing odd jobs. When they asked to be paid they were beaten up by the employers.

Providing them with work permits instead would enable them to earn a decent income to support their families and would in a way ease the labour shortage in the country.

Even though Malaysia is not a signatory to the Geneva Convention on Refugees, it should provide whatever help it can to these displaced people under humanitarian grounds.

EASHVARA LINGAM,

Petaling Jaya.