Burma: Refugees Stagnant in Malaysia

Written by: Camilla Olson

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A young Myanmar refugee looks out of a perimeter fence at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) office in Kuala Lumpur June 17, 2002.
REUTERS/Zainal Abd Halim ZH/PB

It's been a year since I went on mission to Malaysia and sadly the situation for refugees in the country has not gotten any better. While the Burmese refugee population in Malaysia continues to grow, they remain largely invisible to the outside world. Tucked in between the tall skyscrapers of Kuala Lumpur are apartment buildings crowded with Burmese refugees who are too afraid to leave their homes, to take public buses, to use a pay phone in case they are stopped and arrested by Rela, a volunteer immigration force that harasses and targets illegal migrants, including refugees. This recent article describes the conditions that refugees in Malaysia must endure: "The Rela raids happen all the time; as I write this, a raid is going on in Ampang, Lembah Jaya, with refugees trapped in their homes, afraid that Rela personnel patrolling outside will bang on their doors. They SMS their fear." Burmese in Malaysia have fled abuses including rape and forced labor in their own country only to be picked up as illegal migrants and placed in overcrowded detention centers where canings are a common form of punishment. As the situation inside Burma continues to deteriorate, particularly following the recent cyclone, more and more Burmese will make the long and dangerous journey to seek refuge in Malaysia, where there are better job opportunities than in Thailand or Bangladesh, countries that directly border Burma. Even though many of the Burmese in Malaysia are recognized by the United Nations Refugee Agency as having legitimate claims to asylum, the government has not signed the 1951 Refugee Convention and does not officially recognize refugees or the documents they carry. Burmese refugees in Malaysia are therefore left in a limbo state - they cannot access public services likehospitals or schools for fear of arrest and detention but they also cannot return home until conditions improve in Burma. As long as the Malaysian government refuses to recognize the vulnerability of the refugees within its borders, women and children will continue to be put into detention centers and handed over to traffickers. The international community must highlight the situation in Malaysia and pressure the government to improve its treatment of refugees.