Friday, February 5, 2010

Cautious Welcome for Malaysian Refugee Card Scheme

Burmese refugee groups in Malaysia have given a cautious welcome to the announcement of a plan by the Kuala Lumpur government to issue identity cards to refugees recognized by the UN.
Malaysian Home Affairs Ministry Secretary-General Mahmood Adam said on Monday that the plan was in its “final stage,” according to an Associated Press (AP) report. Adam said his government would work with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to issue the cards but he gave no time frame, AP said.
The proposed identity cards will allow refugees to live temporarily in Malaysia.
According to the UNHCR, 69,700 of the 75,600 refugees and asylum seekers registered with the agency are from Burma.
An estimated further 100,000 Burmese refugees lack UNHCR recognition and face official harassment, arrest and detention, according to Burmese refugee groups in Malaysia.
UNHCR spokeswoman Yante Ismail told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday: “We have been discussing with the Malaysian government how to improve the the protection of refugees in the country, and I believe this [plan] is what the government is proposing to do in that direction.”
Under the plan, possession of the identity cards will protect refugees from arrest, although it still falls short of official recognition of their refugee status.
Naung Naung, of the Burmese Refugee Organization in Malaysia, said he welcomed the news of the identity card plan—“if it is confirmed.”
Henry Tin Maung Shwe, a member of the executive committee of the  Chin Refugee Committee (CRC) said it remained “questionable,” however, whether card-holders would be able to work.
The CRC estimates that about 40,000 Chin refugees live in Malaysia, about half of them recognized as refugees by the UNHCR.
A spokesman for the Arakan Refugee Relief Committee (ARRC) said the Malaysian authorities would cease arresting illegal refugees from Feb. 15. “It means they accept Burmese refugees in some way. We don't know the details yet.”
The ARRC spokesman said 15,000 ethnic Arakanese are living in  Malaysia, only 1,500 of whom are recognized by the UNHCR as refugees.

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