Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Shared experiences at refugee camp create lasting bond
The shared hardship at a refugee camp built ties that transcend all barriers.
By LESLIE A. PHILLIP
Pictures courtesy of UNHCR
THE bell on the hilltop tolled at 2.30pm on May 14, 1979, but it was not prayer time. The chants were already done at noon sharp. Most aid workers ate lunch at their workstations which enabled them to get right back to work when done. Meals here were frugal, prepared in the community kitchen by refugee volunteers.
The Vietnamese refugees at Pulau Bidong Camp who were waiting to be interviewed, congregated at the beach front under the coconut palms and casuarinas until their queue was called over the loudhailer.
Today, their attention was drawn to the continuous ringing of the bell. They sensed impending misfortune. Desperate shouts from the Buddhist monk on the hill turned their gaze towards the south of the island. About 500m out at sea, a boat was sailing perilously towards the wooden jetty.
Temporary home: Vietnamese boat people at the Pulau Bidong refugee camp. They often had to endure a perilous journey by sea to get from their homeland to Malaysia. It was listing to starboard but surprisingly, there were no frantic cries from the occupants.
Only security personel were allowed to see the boat in, in keeping with camp regulations. What they saw was heartbreaking.
The 126 new arrivals cramped in a 25m boat were almost lifeless from exhaustion. Relief workers from the Malaysian Red Crescent Society rushed in urgent supplies of drinking water and biscuits.
Two small children did not last the ordeal and their limp bodies were carefully separated from their wailing mothers by Red Crescent social workers. All this in full view of those on the beach who watched with hope and anticipation. Some prayed silently. Eventually, all went well after the security clearance and processing. The weak were taken by stretchers to sick bay and the rest were sent to their community hostel where they were examined by volunteer medical staff.
Flashback to May 9, 1979, five years after the fall of Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) to the Viet Minh. Vietnamese fishing boat VT442 pulled out of Vung Tau fishing port south of Saigon at 3.30am under cover of darkness. The passengers included 38 children, some as young as two. The captain knew the bearings all too well, having been a tugboat master of 26 years with the Vung Tau Port Authority. He had renewed confidence, having in hand nautical settings to the oil platform that lay 120km east of Merang, Terengganu.
Access to clean water was one of their basic needs. A passenger had handed it to him, having received it from a cousin who had set sail on an earlier boat two months back and had landed safely in Pulau Bidong. The bearings were ingeniously transmitted on the back of a postage stamp to avoid detection when he received a letter posted through the mailing service of the Red Crescent.
On the second day at sea, armed pirates boarded the boat. The occupants were robbed and those who resisted were beaten up. Three young women were forcibly ushered onto the pirates’ vessel and violated. But their quest for freedom did not break their will. They continued even without their supply of food, water and fuel which the pirates had mercilessly thrown overboard.
On the fourth night, they spotted the lights of the oil platform and it sparked new hope. Oil rig workers were accustomed to seeing boat people passing by after Saigon fell. These boats either stopped or were just too anxious to reach their destination.
But VT442 stopped and was generously provided with the necessary supplies. Medical attention was given to those who needed it.
On the morning of the fifth day, the boat left the oil rig for Pulau Bidong. That night, two sick children succumbed to dehydration. Their bodies were wrapped in blankets and placed in the captain’s cabin. The parents were too exhausted to grieve.
At dawn, the captain recognised Pulau Bidong just by its silhouette. Since they left the oil platform, the boat had been taking in water and hence the tilt towards starboard. It did not seem important as Pulau Bidong beckoned.
After six months at Pulau Bidong, the refugees were given registration cards by the UNHCR after a series of interviews.This enabled them to receive medical attention, rations and mail. More importantly, the identification card was required to initiate resettlement procedures in recipient countries.
Tran Van Duc, a professor of sociology at Cholon University, was on boat VT442 together with his wife, two sons and a daughter. Being in civil service meant that he was a probable candidate for the indoctrination camp under the new regime, so he had to get out of Cholon by whatever means.
Driven by a desire to contribute to his community, Tran approached aid workers in the camp and volunteered his services as an interpreter and in administrative matters. Tran, who was in his forties, cut a forlorn figure. He had presented his case to the Australian resettlement delegation and was told time and again, that the case was under scrutiny.
Every day at dusk, I combed the beach at Pulau Bidong, taking stock of the cases that had passed through my hands as I planned the next day’s routine for my team. A 12-hour working day was the norm as we worked against time to reunify displaced families. This task formed the basis for resettlement in host countries like the United States, Canada, Australia, France, Britain, New Zealand, Norway, the Netherlands, Germany and Sweden.
One day, as I was walking towards the end of the jetty, Tran joined me. This soft-spoken and well-mannered man had been our interpreter for five months but had kept matters about his resettlement personal. We had traced his younger brother and family who had landed in Thailand in an earlier boat. I remember the tears of joy when we broke the news to Tran and his family.
That day as he joined me at the jetty, I could sense that he had something on his mind. After a short silence, he looked me in the eyes and said: “Sir, I know you have a lot on your mind and you wish you could do more. I can see this in your eyes. You are doing your best and we refugees here know this and we want to thank you.”
I was lost for words. We talked a little, and later I realised that he had saved the best news for last. His resettlement to Australia had been approved and he would be moving to the transit camp just outside of Kuala Lumpur in a week’s time. Tran and his family were resettled in Adelaide, Australia, on Nov 22, 1979.
During a family holiday in Australia three years ago, I chanced upon a Vietnamese restaurant in the south of Adelaide. My wife suggested that we try the pho since this noodle dish brought fond memories of the time when we were in Hanoi.
We were warmly greeted by the staff and, while we were waiting for our orders, the owner enquired where we were from. On learning that we were Malaysians, there was palpable excitement and, from the chatter that ensued, we realised that we were in for more things to come.
The chef was summoned to our table and we learnt that Nguyen Thi Minh was once a refugee at Pulau Bidong Camp.
I casually mentioned that I was once an aid worker in the camp, and Nguyen burst into tears and recounted her experiences. She was thankful she had landed in Malaysia rather than anywhere else. She told us that the Vietnamese community was doing well after resettling in Adelaide.
She was proud that one of them was a councilman in a north Adelaide district.
The next day, I received a call from the reception that a man and his family were waiting to see me.
A surprise awaited me when I turned up at the lobby. Councilman Tran and his family were overcome by emotion when they saw me. Few words were exchanged, but our hearts spoke volumes.
The man who told me he saw it in my eyes almost 28 years ago, held my shoulders, looked into my eyes, smiled and said it was destiny that brought us together again.
Tran’s eyes sparkled with joy. Suffice to say, my family and I were treated like visiting dignitaries the next two days. Following this, we must have met at least 120 Vietnamese who had gone through Pulau Bidong, each asking if I still remember them.
Today, Tran and I still keep in touch, thanks to modern technology. Our experiences at Pulau Bidong had created a lasting bond between us, one that transcends space and time.
The names mentioned here and the boat registration number have been changed to respect the individuals’ privacy. Malaysia was host to about 250,000 Vietnamese refugees between May 1975 and August 2005, when the last of them was resettled in third countries.
The Chin in India and Malaysia
 Photo: Chin Human Rights Organisation  |
| A Chin woman looks for salvageable items in a rubbish dump in Mizoram (Photo gallery) |
The two main destinations for Chin refugees are India and Malaysia. In India, they are found in Mizoram State, across the border from Chin State, as well as in the capital, Delhi. The Chin have no legal status and little protection in Mizoram, but in Delhi, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) is allowed to maintain an office and provide basic services to refugees.
In Malaysia, the Chin live mostly in the capital, Kuala Lumpur. Although rights groups say they are vulnerable to harassment and detention, Chin are able to apply for asylum though UNHCR.
 The Chin in India and Malaysia |
The photos and edited text are courtesy of the Canada-based Chin Human Rights Organization (CHRO) and are part of a travelling exhibition in 2010.
Theme (s): Refugees/IDPs,
[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]
Cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment
thestar online
DIPLOMATICALLY SPEAKING
Last month, Amnesty International published a report drawing attention to the fact that judicial caning in Malaysia has reached epidemic proportions. Since 2002, when the Immigration Act was amended to include corporal punishment, nearly 48,000 prisoners have been whipped in Malaysia.
Datuk Dennis Ignatius is a 36-year veteran of the Malaysian foreign service. He served in London, Beijing and Washington and was ambassador to Chile and Argentina. He retired as High Commissioner to Canada in July 2008.
DIPLOMATICALLY SPEAKING
By DENNIS IGNATIUS
Last month, Amnesty International published a report drawing attention to the fact that judicial caning in Malaysia has reached epidemic proportions. Since 2002, when the Immigration Act was amended to include corporal punishment, nearly 48,000 prisoners have been whipped in Malaysia.It is a shocking reminder of the cruel, inhuman and degrading way we treat prisoners, particularly refugees and illegal migrants.
Caning or whipping is a horrendous form of punishment. Maximum force, with the cane travelling at speeds of up to 160kph, is applied. The whiplash of the cane (usually a piece of rattan about 1.09m long and 1.25cm thick that is soaked in water) literally takes the skin off the buttocks and then pounds the flesh into pulp. Skin disintegrates. Blood flows copiously.
The pain is so severe that victims often lose consciousness. And when they do, they are quickly revived by doctors so that punishment can continue.
How doctors can participate in this kind of abuse is beyond understanding.
Whipping leaves deep scars that take months to heal. It also leaves deep emotional and psychological wounds that mark the victims for the rest of their lives.
In 2007, a six-minute video of a drug trafficker being caned in Malaysia found its way onto the Internet. Those who think that caning is an acceptable form of punishment should take the trouble to view it.
I personally found it too disturbing to watch. It brought back memories of my late father’s treatment at the hands of the Kempeitai – the military police of the Imperial Japanese Army during the war years. My father was whipped so badly that he carried the scars on his back and buttocks to his grave some fifty years later.
That such horrific abuse is still being visited upon people today is mind-boggling.
And all this despite the fact that there is no evidence that caning is an effective deterrence. It simply panders to our baser instincts to inflict pain upon those who transgress.
Furthermore, such forms of corporal punishment are clearly against the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights which states that, “No one shall be subject to torture or to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment”.
Malaysia has always been an ardent supporter of the UN and proudly sits on its Human Rights Council, yet we violate one of its most cherished principles. We lose the moral authority to speak on human rights issues when we ourselves don’t cherish and uphold them.
Some years ago, Malaysians joined the global outrage over the treatment of prisoners at Abu Ghraib. America was rightly condemned for behaving in such a cruel and callous manner. What does it now say of us when we are silent about something far worse that is taking place in our prisons on an almost daily basis?
What is even more egregious is that we visit such horrific punishment upon hapless refugees and illegal migrants as well.
Refugees from Myanmar, for example, flee in fear and desperation from well documented abuse, torture and death in their own land only to be further abused in Malaysia.
According to Amnesty International, more than 6,000 refugees are caned, up to 24 times each, every year!
This is morally reprehensible and a great blight upon our nation’s honour.
Of course, we are not the only ones to permit judicial caning. It is widely practised in Singapore and Brunei as well, courtesy of our common British colonial heritage. Caning is now increasingly considered a cheaper alternative to jailing offenders. Illegal migrants are whipped and then deported.
Not surprisingly, many countries seem to ignore this appalling abuse of their own citizens in Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei. If Australian, British or American citizens were similarly treated, there would be an international uproar, which explains why such punishment is rarely inflicted on them.
Our poorer Asian neighbours, on the other hand, remain silent largely because they fear antagonising us and jeopardising an important source of foreign income in the remittances that these migrant workers send home each month. For countries like the Philippines, Bangladesh and Nepal, for example, such remittances make a significant contribution to their economy.
Perhaps it is also because Asian governments tend to place a lower premium on human dignity.
Whatever the reason, shame on them for staying silent while their citizens are so harshly treated abroad.
Of course, Myanmar’s military rulers are not going to lose any sleep over the treatment of Karen, Kachin or Rohingya people abroad, but surely we become complicit in the injustice wreaked upon these people if they end up being abused and punished in Malaysia as well.
When asked about the leaked caning video in 2007, the Deputy Home Minister at the time said it was “no big deal”.
But it is a big deal when our nation inflicts such horrendous suffering upon prisoners, upon migrant workers and upon refugees. It tarnishes our image and invites international scorn.
And it is a big deal because we are better than that.
It’s time we end this barbaric form of punishment. Certainly, we should immediately stop the caning of refugees and illegal migrants.
The Art and Soul of BURMESE Refugees in MALAYSIA provided by Shariqa Habi
A group of students and a lecturer of Taylor’s University College in Malaysia were dying to give Burmese kids the opportunity to develop art skills, have fun and most importantly, share their story with the rest of the world. The point was to wrap up the extraordinary perspectives of these precious Burmese gems into a project called “See the World Through Our Eyes.”, organized with the support of British Council’s Global Changemakers and Amnesty International Malaysia. In other words, these invisible members of Malaysian society were given a voice, or should I say, a camera?
How do you survive as a member of a minority group in Burma (Myanmar) where ethnic conflict has been an ongoing war since the 1940s? May be you’d consider running as fast as your Burmese feet can carry you, all the way to neighboring country Malaysia. What happens afterward? Unfortunately illegal Burmese immigrants in Malaysia accept a miserable underpaid-abusive work life; deprivation of health-care, social security, food, clean water. Amnesty International Malaysia explains: “Malaysian law, especially the Immigration Act does not distinguish a person as a refugee or as a person in need of temporary protection. The Act also excludes validity of documents granted by the UNHCR that accord such people with International Protection.”
http://www.aimalaysia.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9A little ray of Hope
Everyday Malaysians needed a serious wake-up call and that’s exactly what the Community Action Project (CAP) of the Global Changemakers aimed at. In comes Shariqa Habib, a Global Changemaker who recently finished her International Canadian Pre-University Program. As an assignment for her World Issues course, she and some other students had to visit a Burmese refugee school in Kuala Lumpur and teach the children for one day. This day turned out to be such an amazing experience that she wanted to work with them again. She spoke with her lecturer, Colin B. Shafer who let her watch the documentary “Born Into Brothels”, a documentary on prostitution in Calcutta, shot by the kids of prostitutes. Mister Shafer wanted to do something similar and his students were willing to run the project. Voilà , project “See the World Through Our Eyes” was born. 
Every weekend they would go to the school and give photojournalism training to a group of Burmese kids between 13 and 16 years old. Shariqa applied for a grant with the British Council’s Global Changemakers and the group received a grant to support the project. This grant, however, did not cover technical equipment so the group had to get their creative groove on to collect camera’s. Mister Shafer sold some of his photographic prints and people donated their old cameras. That’s wasn’t the only challenge they faced. They had to select the Burmese children who would participate in this project. Mister Shafer says it was very difficult to keep the number of the group under 20, because it was so hard to say no! He was also concerned with what they would think of the process. As refugees they have limited extra curricular activities, but in the end their response was very positive and they turned out to be fantastic photographers! Shariqa says language was another obvious barrier. Their ‘little photographers’ as she calls them didn’t speak proper English so they had to find a way to communicate with translators present. But they never lost hope!
Every weekend they would go to the school and give photojournalism training to a group of Burmese kids between 13 and 16 years old. Shariqa applied for a grant with the British Council’s Global Changemakers and the group received a grant to support the project. This grant, however, did not cover technical equipment so the group had to get their creative groove on to collect camera’s. Mister Shafer sold some of his photographic prints and people donated their old cameras. That’s wasn’t the only challenge they faced. They had to select the Burmese children who would participate in this project. Mister Shafer says it was very difficult to keep the number of the group under 20, because it was so hard to say no! He was also concerned with what they would think of the process. As refugees they have limited extra curricular activities, but in the end their response was very positive and they turned out to be fantastic photographers! Shariqa says language was another obvious barrier. Their ‘little photographers’ as she calls them didn’t speak proper English so they had to find a way to communicate with translators present. But they never lost hope!
The Butterfly EffectThe whole team of students and Burmese children worked together, like the imaginal cells of a caterpillar who turns into a beautiful butterfly. After a few months of hard work the metamorphosis was complete! A wonderful photo exhibition appeared at the Annexe Gallery in Kuala Lumpur. The exhibition received a great deal of support by the Executive Director of Amnesty International Malaysia, who made a personal appearance on the opening night.
The children were all dressed in traditional clothing and performed for the visitors. Some of their parents even managed to come. “I have never seen kids so proud. It was great to see their smiles as people observed their photographs with intrigue. Lots of people purchased the photographs and we were able to raise a lot of money for the ACR school, which exists month to month.” says Mister Shafer.
The Aftermath…Mister Shafer and his students hope they can exhibit the photos in more places in Malaysia and internationally and spread their exquisite voice around the world!
Some of the kids received asylum from the U.S. government and moved to the U.S. with their family. Others are probably still in Kuala Lumpur. They were allowed to keep the cameras – score! Hopefully they are still using their new found talents to snap pictures and share their stories. “We are hoping to continue to stay in contact with this original group of youth. It would be great if we can get this exhibit shown in more places around Malaysia and the world. “Mister Shafer continues, “They are really special, and extremely talented. I am worried as they are getting to an age where schooling will not be available for them anymore; I am not sure what they will do. It would be amazing if we could help some of them get into art schools or universities to continue growing in this field, but that would require a scholarship or donations. If anyone out there wants to help please let me know. I have a couple of the students in mind who I know would excel in any art program.” There’s no doubt these kids will be successful in life, and they deserve every chance they can get! So, any takers? I can assure you, you will not be sorry if you give these youngsters a chance!
Take a look at some awesome pictures taken by the Refugee kids-turning-photographers:
Upcoming rays-of-hope projects…
For the future Mister Shafer will be working with Somalian refugees in Malaysia on a similar project. He thought it would be absolutely fabulous if they could organize an exhibition showing both the work of the Somali children and the photos of the Burmese refugees, and even make a photo book of these projects.
“Hopefully this project inspires others to do similar work, and support the refugees living in their country. If we do not allow these vulnerable young humans to feel loved and respected, they will not end up being confident contributors to whatever society they live in. Therefore it is in everyone’s best interest to help them be successful.”
Word up Mister Shafer, I couldn’t have said it better! So c’mon people, move it, get in gear we have some extra special works of art to spread and stories to tell!!!
Concern over Rohingya boat people
Human rights groups have expressed concern over the plight of 158 Rohingya men being detained by authorities in southern Thailand.
The men, of varying ages, reportedly came ashore over the weekend, after fleeing their native Myanmar and experiencing engine trouble on their way to Malaysia.
"I'm very concerned about their possible deportation and the manner in which that could take place," Chris Lewa, the coordinator of the Arakan Project, an advocacy organization for the Rohingya, told IRIN from Geneva on 25 January.
"It's very difficult to track them should that happen," David Mathieson, a researcher for Human Rights Watch (HRW), said, adding that he hoped the Thai authorities would permit UNHCR (the UN Refugee Agency) access to conduct a proper refugee status determination.
The first boat carrying 91 men arrived in Trang Province on 22 January, followed by a second one on 23 January carrying 67 to Sarai Island in Tarutao National Park, Satun Province.
Police Col. Chayawut Chansomboon, Satun immigration superintendent, reportedly said both groups would probably be repatriated.
Reports suggest that eight boats have left Myanmar and Bangladesh on their way to Malaysia since the end of December although the whereabouts of the other boats remain unknown.
Two years earlier, Thailand was criticized for its handling of another group of Rohingya boat people who washed up on its shores, amid allegations that hundreds were towed out to sea and left to die without adequate humanitarian supplies.
The Rohingya, a persecuted Muslim minority unrecognized as citizens by the Burmese government, have been fleeing their native Myanmar since 1978.
Each year, scores escape from Myanmar's northern Rakhine state by boat, often turning up in Bangladesh, Thailand, Malaysia or as far away as Indonesia.
According to UNHCR, there are some 200,000 Rohingya in Bangladesh, of whom only 28,000 are documented refugees and in two government camps assisted by the agency.
The men, of varying ages, reportedly came ashore over the weekend, after fleeing their native Myanmar and experiencing engine trouble on their way to Malaysia.
"I'm very concerned about their possible deportation and the manner in which that could take place," Chris Lewa, the coordinator of the Arakan Project, an advocacy organization for the Rohingya, told IRIN from Geneva on 25 January.
"It's very difficult to track them should that happen," David Mathieson, a researcher for Human Rights Watch (HRW), said, adding that he hoped the Thai authorities would permit UNHCR (the UN Refugee Agency) access to conduct a proper refugee status determination.
The first boat carrying 91 men arrived in Trang Province on 22 January, followed by a second one on 23 January carrying 67 to Sarai Island in Tarutao National Park, Satun Province.
Police Col. Chayawut Chansomboon, Satun immigration superintendent, reportedly said both groups would probably be repatriated.
Reports suggest that eight boats have left Myanmar and Bangladesh on their way to Malaysia since the end of December although the whereabouts of the other boats remain unknown.
Two years earlier, Thailand was criticized for its handling of another group of Rohingya boat people who washed up on its shores, amid allegations that hundreds were towed out to sea and left to die without adequate humanitarian supplies.
The Rohingya, a persecuted Muslim minority unrecognized as citizens by the Burmese government, have been fleeing their native Myanmar since 1978.
Each year, scores escape from Myanmar's northern Rakhine state by boat, often turning up in Bangladesh, Thailand, Malaysia or as far away as Indonesia.
According to UNHCR, there are some 200,000 Rohingya in Bangladesh, of whom only 28,000 are documented refugees and in two government camps assisted by the agency.
Source : speroforum.com
Policy chaos over migrant workers in Malaysia
Malaysia has a total of 1.9 million registered migrant workers, constituting approximately 21 per cent of the workforce, making Malaysia the largest importer of labour in Asia.
Despite the large presence of migrant workers in the economy, the policies and laws regulating in-migration are chaotic. Policies built on the concept of a short-term remedy for labour shortage problems have exposed the failure on the part of policymakers to recognise the critical contribution of migrant workers over the longer term. The problem is compounded by the absence of a comprehensive policy on in-migration as an integral part of national strategies for economic growth.
The inflows of migrants in the various economic sectors have generally been governed informally, although the government has signed Memorandums of Understanding with several designated countries, including Indonesia, the Philippines, Bangladesh, China, Vietnam, Pakistan and Thailand. Following this, the private sector was permitted to set up employment agencies to officially recruit migrant workers from these countries. However, after failing to combat the increasing inflows of illegal migrants, the government, in 1995, put a stop to private sector recruitment agencies and replaced them with a Task Force on Foreign Labour. The frequent pre-1995 sanctions on the importation of migrant workers persisted into the post-1995 period, suggesting that the special Task Force had also failed to stem the employment of illegal workers. The Task Force was then disbanded in 1997, and in 2002, recruitment procedures were subject through G to G agreements.
Apart from the changes in the recruitment process, frequent bans have been imposed to cut back the intake of migrants. These measures are generally short-lived, lasting not more than a year. Retrenchments and deportations of legal workers following any economic downturn have been reversed soon after employers’ problems with labour shortage.
In the course of regulating the use of migrant workers across the various economic sectors, the government has also sought efforts to deter the recruitment and retention of legal migrants by instituting market-based measures, such as the levy system in 1991 (with subsequent upwards revisions made in 1995, 1998 and 2005), the mandatory contributions to the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) in 1998 and the reduction in the maximum limit of the work permit in 2001. However, these policies backfired as employers switched to hiring illegals and under-reporting migrant wages to reduce their contributions to the EPF. As a result, the levies were lowered in 1999, the mandatory contribution to EPF was revoked in 2001 and the limit of the work permit was revised to five years from three years.
Though the laws of Malaysia do not discriminate against migrant workers, in practice, the rights of migrant workers are not protected: workers suffer from non-payment of wages, wrongful deduction of wages to cover work permits, long working hours, sub-standard living conditions, no insurance coverage, travel documents withheld by employers and unfair dismissal.
There are also provisions in existing labour laws with inherent biases against migrant workers. The Workmen’s Compensation Act (which covers migrant workers) provides benefits that are by far inferior to that as provided by the SOCSO (Social Security Organisation) scheme to local workers. Apart from observed differences in the compensation for migrant vis-Ã -vis local workers, there is no assurance that the injured migrant worker is compensated for under the Act, as this requires the worker to be adequately insured by the employer.
A recent announcement by the Malaysian government requiring employers to buy health insurance coverage for migrant workers effective this month is positive. Yet, this mandate, though it ostensibly benefits migrant workers, is being implemented mainly because of the high amount of unsettled public hospital bills by employers, totaling RM18 million (US$5.8 million) as at November 2010. To date, the details of the health insurance, apart from the annual premium of RM120, have not been made known to the public.
There are three main policy contexts in which migrant inflows are affected through the ‘price’ (labour cost encompassing wages, non-wages and other intangible benefits) effect.
The provisions outlined in the specified Acts that are applicable to migrants need to be reviewed to ensure equal protection for the former with that of their local counterparts. Of importance are the compensations meted out under the Workmen’s Compensation Act 1952. The compensation packages, offered to foreigners in the event of workplace injuries, need to be revised upwards as the payment is too low in comparison with the SOCSO plan for local workers. Equal treatment of migrants with that of local workers will tax away any undesirable cost saving gains borne by employers.
The government is also studying a proposal to increase the levy for migrant workers, with differing rates across skills and sectors. The current annual levy system suffers from several shortcomings. In the case of manufacturing, an annual levy of RM1200 and RM960 (based on the latest revision in August 2005) is imposed on migrant workers in Peninsular and East Malaysia respectively. A blanket levy for manufacturing is not feasible given that the dependence on migrant workers varies considerably across industries.
The final policy issue also under consideration is minimum wages. The Malaysian Trade Union Congress has been pressuring the government to introduce a minimum wage of RM900, plus cost of living allowance of RM300, to attract local workers and reduce the dependence on migrant workers. The key challenge is to identify the appropriate rate for minimum wages as the proposed rate matches up to a basic wage of a semi-skilled worker in Malaysia, lest displacement of jobs may post a greater problem as higher wages relative to neighbouring countries attract more migrant inflows. The argument that a minimum wage will reduce the dependency on migrant workers is debatable and can somewhat be counterproductive given that: first, migrant workers may increase instead of decrease unless transaction costs (such as work permits and levies) are increased sufficiently to render them unattractive; second, local workers may still not be willing to undertake 3-D (dirty, difficult and dangerous) jobs, and even if they do, workers’ productivity with minimum wages becomes another concern; third, the problem of non-compliance and abuse by the various stakeholders which has plagued in-migration in Malaysia to date may worsen as unscrupulous employers resort to illegal workers to undercut cost of competitors.
The core problem is a lack of a comprehensive migrant worker policy and weak governance structures. The Malaysian case is a classic case of the failure of decentralisation in the recruitment and placement of migrant workers, in addition to lack of enforcement of existing regulations by various stakeholders.
Evelyn Devadason is Visiting Fellow at the Australian National University and Associate Professor at the University of Malaya.
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Burma rights report says minority group killed, raped
- Online news: Asia
The Burma junta has been commiting abuses in a remote state that need a crimes against humanity investigation, an international rights group said Wednesday.
An ethnic Chin refugee child (C) from Myanmar sits with his mother and sister at their living quarters in New Delhi. The Myanmar junta has been commiting abuses in a remote state that need a crimes against humanity investigation, an international rights group said Wednesday. The Physicians for Human Rights group trained volunteers to survey hundreds of families in Chin state, many of whom said relatives had been killed, raped or forced into slave labor.
Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu, the anti-apartheid campaigner, and former International Criminal Court prosecutor Richard Goldstone called the results of the survey "devastating" as they joined a call made in the report for an international inquiry into alleged crimes of humanity across Burma.
Physicians for Human Rights issued its report ahead of a review of Burma's record by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva next week.
Demands for an international commission of inquiry have eased since Burma's election in November, which was dominated by pro-junta parties, and the later release of democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi.
But the US-based group, which shared the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize for its work in the international campaign to ban landmines, said the election had not "addressed the suffering" of the Burma people.
Its "Life Under The Junta" report said that Burma's "authoritarian system, with all the harm it has generated remains intact" and ethnic minorities like the Chin have faced "particularly brutal treatment under military rule."
The survey, carried out between October 2009 and November 2010, interviewed 621 families across Chin state, which is on the border with India. Physicians for Human Rights said it was the first detailed study of its kind.
Crimes committed in Chin state "include murder, rape, torture, group persecution and other inhumane acts," said the report.
The group said more than 90 percent of the families had reported that at least one member of the family had been forced into unpaid labor for the military or government.
Six families said a relative had been killed by soldiers, another 29 reported relatives had disappeared, 23 said a family member had been tortured, 17 that one person in the group had been raped or sexually violated by the military.
The report said that nearly a third of rape victims and nearly 20 percent of torture victims were aged under 15. Seventeen families said a child from the group had been forcibly conscripted into the Burma army. Some of the child soldiers were as young as 11, the report said.
"Forced labor is often performed at gunpoint under military oversight," said Physicians for Human Rights.
"Government soldiers reportedly beat and even shoot to death civilians while they labor under duress." The "military have also made civilian laborers serve as minesweepers and human shields to protect the soldiers while marching on dirt roads."
The Burma government has tried to turn remote Chin state into a major producer of tea and jatropha, also known as the physic nut.
To do this many families have been forced to stop growing their own food, the report said, and many have been displaced. There are an estimated 75,000 displaced Chin in India and 50,000 in Malaysia.
"Decades of neglect and widespread abuses have, moreover, devastated the Chin who have remained in (Burma) and rendered them highly food insecure and vulnerable to natural disaster." It said 114 villages in the southern township of Kanpalet face food shortages because of rat infestation.
Migrants missing after rights case
Three Burmese migrant workers in Malaysia have been deported and an additional two have gone missing after requesting that their employers uphold contractual obligations over payment.
Thirty-five Burmese in total had been detained last week in Johor in southern Malaysia after complaining that the owners of the Sinometal Technology Company had paid them only 640 Malaysian Ringit ($US210) per month instead of the 900 Ringit ($US295) agreed when they signed the three-month contract. They also complained that they were not receiving overtime pay which had also been promised.
Thirty were subsequently released, but the three deported were deemed to be ringleaders of the group.
“On 12 January the employer made a fake report to the police and the police arrived at the hostel,” says Tun Tun from the Burma Campaign Malaysia (BCM). The police detained all 35 workers at around 10.30am but released the 30 at around 6:45pm, telling BCM that the other five were “under investigation”.
According to Pranom Somwong of the Network of Action for Migrants in Malaysia (NAMM), however, “they immediately sent five of the workers’ leaders to the airport, and tried to send them back to Burma”.
No legal charges against the workers were made clear to either advocates or the workers. Human rights lawyer Charles Hector, who advocates for migrant workers in Malaysia, says: “Honestly speaking, the police should not have got themselves involved in this situation where there was no protest and there was no criminal offence happening. This was a labour matter, but police are used by employers to harass migrant workers – this is common practice.”
The case is another indictment of strained labour relations in Malaysia, around 30 percent of whose workforce is made up of migrant workers. Tun Tun tells DVB that Malaysia is thus “a pro-employer country”.
The Kuala Lumpur-based Burma Workers’ Rights Protection Committee estimates there are about 500,000 registered and unregistered migrants from Burma in Malaysia. As of May 2009, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said it had registered 50,000 people of concern from Burma, including refugees and asylum-seekers. Amnesty International claims there are a total of around 2.2 million legal migrants in Malaysia.
Hector believes the incident was aimed at “making the migrants believe that they can’t do anything against the employer”.
Access to the law in Malaysia is widely identified as a problem for Burmese migrant workers, meaning they are more liable to be abused by their employers. Tun Tun adds that the 35 did not speak Bahasa, the local language, and little English. As a result the BCM publishes the laws in Burmese in a newsletter called the Thuria Malaysia.
The 30 who were released returned to their hostel but found it locked and were unable to enter, forcing them to spend the night on the streets.
Through the intervention of groups such as the Malaysian Human Rights Commission, NAMM and the BCM, the country’s labour office became involved and was able to regain the jobs of at least 27 of the 35. As well as the fate of the deported three, concern abounds about the whereabouts of the two leaders whom no one has heard from. - Democratic Voice of Burma, 19/1/2011, Migrants missing after rights case
See also earlier posts:-
Sinometal Case Update(3): 27 Workers Win, 3 send back to Burma, 5 still missing...
Sinometal Case Update(2): 2 Migrant Workers escape employer's attempts to send them back to Burma
Sinometal Case Update: 5 Migrant Workers being send to KLIA possibly to be send back to Burma
35 migrant workers arrested in Senai, Johor when they try to claim their rights from employer
Tun Tun, BCM: ‘Migrant rights? No’
Malaysia is home to around 500,000 Burmese migrants, less than half of whom have been registered and thus hold a semblance of legal status in the country. Employers of migrant workers are often accused of exploiting their fragile existence in the country for their own gain, paying meagre wages and meting out abuse in the workplace. Tun Tun heads the Burma Campaign Malaysia (BCM), which campaigns for migrant workers’ rights.
How and why did you come to Malaysia?
I have been here for 17 years. I came because I was a student at Mandalay University and was involved in politics, and got in trouble so fled and became a migrant worker myself.
Following the case of 35 migrant workers who were arrested for asking for their contracts to be upheld, why did the police just end up targeting the five leaders?
In my experience in all the cases they always target the leaders. They think if they find and target the leaders the case will be settled, to scare the other workers.
What’s the relationship between the employers and the police?
That is a major concern here. All workers cannot speak out to the police. The police don’t understand the workers explanations. That’s the first problem. The second problem is that most of the law enforcement agencies here, whenever the local Malaysian people complain to them, they always take action against the foreigners – that is a problem. This was a labour dispute – it should have been dealt with in a labour court – but they never use this channel. They just use the police; they just arrive and arrest them and transfer them to immigration who deport them. It’s very easy for the employer and safe for the employer, so a lot of them use this channel.
How often do employers take workers documents?
According to Malaysian law, employers can’t keep workers’ documents, but the immigration department or police never take action against the employers. They all know that they keep the workers’ documents but do nothing. The Sinometal Technology Company took all their documents.
How do you advise migrant workers in Malaysia?
Wherever you go to work you can’t get good wages and you are not safe if you don’t keep your documents. Because you are not skilled, the employers will pay you around 700 to 800 [Malaysia Ringgit – $US230-260], so please don’t run away – if you don’t follow the contract we can’t help you.
How many illegal Burmese migrant workers do you think there are in Malaysia?
I think there are about 200,000 illegal Burmese migrant workers in Malaysia. The majority are men, very few women. They do various kinds of work – in restaurants, engineering, production, and so on.
Why do you advise them to keep hold of their documents?
The first thing is the levy. The Malaysian government charges employers a levy for employing foreign workers. Employers regularly deduct this fee from their workers’ salaries. However as of 1 April 2009 the Malaysian government announced that the employer cannot deduct the levy charge from the workers, but 90 percent of employers don’t follow this government order – they just deduct it. I had a case on 11 January where I complained about levy deduction from a workers’ leader named Hla Min, a Burmese migrant who works for DW Plastics Ltd, who complained for all workers when a total of 48,000 ringgits ($US15,730) was deducted.
Did he get in trouble?
No. They had no other problem apart from the levy. They wanted the employer to refund their money, so I went to the labour department and reported for them. In a month the employer will refund their money.
What happens when a worker is detained for not having the right documents?
Well, in Malaysia, if an Indonesian is detained they can get a travel document for 15 ringgits ($US5) per person and then they have to go back by boat or air. For our Burmese people, they have to pay their embassy 550 ringgits ($US180), or 900 ringgits ($US295). If you pay 500 ringgits you stay a very long time in the camp; if you pay 900 you get a fast process. Now workers are facing more problems because the Burmese government has introduced a new passport, so all the workers have to go the embassy and pay 4,000 ringgits ($US1310) per person, a very high price.
Why does the Malaysian government have these levies?
They want to reduce the number of migrant workers. They are facing a lot of social problems – they think it’s the migrant workers fault but it is not true. The Malaysian government is a pro-employer government; most of the politicians are nationalists, and that is a problem.
How is the experience of Malaysia different for different Burmese ethnic groups?
In Malaysia there are over 40 different ethnic organisations. Most are dedicated to registering refugees – in my experience they don’t concentrate on workers rights. I’m very sad about this.
How would you describe the UN High Commissioner for Refugee’s work for refugees here?
Every organisation is based on its members. Many of the ethnic organisations have good relations with UNHCR, but the UNHCR are also involved in a lot of corruption, particularly with registration of refugees and with resettlement.
How does it work with resettlement?
Three months ago, UNHCR resettled someone to New Zealand. The New Zealand authorities checked her biography and UNHCR had given a different biography, so the New Zealand authorities didn’t let her out of their camp. So it is very clear that it was a substitution for someone who is still here
Why? Did she pay UNHCR?
I think so, because at that time, one of my colleagues was resettled and he met this girl in the resettlement camp and he informed me.
How do migrants contact you?
We publish a newsletter in peninsula Malaysia. In this newsletter we have one article about migrants rights in Malaysia with our hotline number, so when they have a problem they contact us. We send the newsletter to Burmese shops around peninsula Malaysia and the shopkeeper sells it to migrant workers. It has no adverts and it is non-profit.
How difficult is it for migrant workers to access their legal rights?
I was also a migrant worker five years ago. My employer violated the law all the time. I knew he was wrong but I couldn’t point out correctly. So whatever the employer said to us, he was right. So I wanted to know the migrant rights in Malaysia and tell all our migrant workers because if they knew about this then they can demand it [their rights]. So I tried to translate the migrants rights into Burmese and distribute it.
How has it changed things?
It has had a good effect, because we put here that the employer cannot deduct levies, and that they can contact us or the trade union congress whenever. So after the workers read this they know the employers are wrong and they contact us and work out how they can get it refunded.
In Malaysia migrant workers will get injured or have health problems. What is access to healthcare like in Malaysia?
Whenever a Malaysian goes to hospital, they have to pay one ringgit ($US0.30) for registration. For the migrant worker it is 15 ringgit ($US5) for registration. After we pay the 15 ringgit the doctor puts you in a check room and then he tells us what we need [financially], and then we pay a deposit. If they can’t pay, then a there’s a problem. They have to borrow to pay the deposit of, say, 500 ringgits ($US163). This is discrimination against migrants. It is not only in hospitals, it is in all government agencies – for example, if a migrant wants to open a bank account they cannot freely open an account; they need an employer recommendation letter, while for local people no letter is needed.
Are migrant workers dependent upon employers, and why is this system in place?
According to Malaysian immigration law employers are responsible for their migrant workers. For example when a visitor comes they show their passport and can enter Malaysia, but when a migrant worker arrives they are not allowed to leave the airport until their employer arrives to pick them up. Moreover, we receive a lot of complaints about working conditions for migrant workers. They are abused physically and mentally.
Suu Kyi’s Release Offers Little Hope For Refugees
By ALEX ELLGEE
MAE SOT—During the three-hour bus journey from Mae Sot to Umpiem refugee camp there are at least five checkpoints. For Myat Thint this is a problem. He tried to avoid eye contact with the police as they circled the taxis demanding papers.
“Being a refugee is like being in prison,” he said after we had successfully gotten through the first checkpoint.
An ethnic Mon, the Burmese military regime forced Myat Thint's family off their land, which five generations of his family had lived on, in order to build a highway. When he resisted he was sent to prison for six years, but managed to flee to Thailand.
When asked whether he felt Suu Kyi’s release may help his situation he said, “I am really happy that 'our mother' is not locked up, but I don’t expect I can return home any time soon.”
He pointed out that her release could put an end to sanctions, which would just increase forced relocations such as that which had displaced his family in Mon State.
“The generals will exploit her release. They didn't let her go free for the good of the country,” he said as the pick-up truck-cum-taxi roared along the dusty border road. “The international community will think it’s time to stop imposing sanctions, but the SPDC [ruling State Peace and Development Council] don’t know how to organize development for the common people. They will just force thousands from their land to increase their profits.”
Myat Thint had just traveled to Mae Sot to take his mother to the general hospital to receive treatment for a severe infection. He went through the official procedure and obtained a camp pass. However his mother had to stay longer and he wanted to stay by her side.
“She was scared to stay by herself in a Thai hospital, so I stayed an extra day. But when they said she would have to stay even longer I had to come back,” he said.
At the next checkpoint, he wasn’t so lucky. Once again the police swirled around the car, as if sizing up their Burmese prey. When they got to Myat Thint, they found that his camp pass is one day out of date. He showed them his UNHCR card, it had little effect. He was ordered off the bus. Later that night, he had still not arrived at the camp.
News of Aung San Suu Kyi’s release on Nov. 13 spread quickly through the refugee camps dotted along the Thai-Burmese border. For the 130,000-plus refugees who have escaped Burma citing oppression and human rights abuse, it was a happy moment; but, like Myat Thint, few expect the event to enable them to return to Burma any time soon.
On that same date, Thiha sat in his flimsy bamboo home in Umpiem refugee camp listening to the events unfold on a wireless radio. He heard that the barricades were removed from University Avenue and supporters were rushing in to get a glimpse of “The Lady.”
“I was so happy when I heard that she was released,” Thiha said.
In 1996, Thiha listened to Suu Kyi’s speeches every week when she was free to speak publicly as much as she wanted. Suddenly, though, the SPDC placed heavy restrictions on her, including banning her weekly speeches.
In response to the SPDC’s actions, Thiha was one of many who protested. He was subsequently caught and arrested by Burma's notorious security forces and punished with seven years imprisonment for his actions. When he was released, he was under heavy surveillance. He said he no longer wanted to live under the fear that he could be arrested at any time, so fled to Thailand.
“The moment they feel Daw Suu is getting too powerful again, I am sure they will just place restrictions on her and lock up her supporters,” he said.
Former Karen National Union major Saw Htoo, now a resident at Umpiem refugee camp, said he shares the others' happiness but doesn’t see how she can improve the country in the near future.
“Suu Kyi is sincere, and is the true leader of the country,” said Saw Htoo. “But she can’t change the country if she has no position of power in Burmese politics, and the regime won’t allow her to have the power to do anything.
“Everything is up to the SPDC,” he added. “If they change their minds, then the country can change. Meanwhile, we have to remain in the refugee camps.”
Soe Lay, a former political prisoner of 10 years due to his involvement in the 1988 uprising, also voiced his doubts about what Suu Kyi can achieve.
“She has been trying to achieve national reconciliation for 10 years now, but the regime has shown no desire to work with her,” he said.
Soe Lay said he believes they will arrest Suu Kyi after Parliament is convened at the end of January, and he warned the Nobel Peace Prize laureate to start making plans. He suggested that she should become more unified with the insurgent groups.
“This time, she will try non-violent methods and they will arrest her again,” he said. “She needs to get closer to the insurgent groups and unify them. When the time comes and she is arrested, the insurgent groups must unify and rise up to save the country.”
One of the biggest concerns among refugees in the camps is for the safety of Suu Kyi. Many fear the ruling junta could “take her out” at any time. Many recall the day she was almost assassinated in May 2003 when a government-sponsored mob attacked her convoy in Depayin killing at least 70 NLD members.
“My fear is that the SPDC organizes something similar to the assassination of Benazir Bhutto,” said Toe Aung, a former NLD member and NLD youth co-coordinator.
When asked whether he felt that Suu Kyi could improve the conditions for refugees, he said, “She can try with words, but it is up to Thailand.
“Now the Thai authorities have stopped registering refugees since 2005, so many of us remain unregistered and without any foreseeable futures.”
Naw Ploe, an ethnic Karen woman who 10 years ago fled the fighting in Karen State and now lives in Mae La camp, said she felt Suu Kyi’s release could even worsen their situation.
“For 10 years I have lived with my family in Thailand in relative safety to escape all the fighting,” she said from the steps of her bamboo home.
“Suu Kyi’s release could give Thailand an excuse to send us back,” she said. “But we can’t go back. You can see from the recent fighting that there is no peace in Burma.”
Despite the many concerns, there has been an increase in energy among some youths, according to May Thaw, a student in Nu Po refugee camp.
“Many of the young people in the camp are always complaining that we don’t get real education certificates and have no future,” she said. “Now we try not to think about what might happen, and instead just enjoy the fact that Suu Kyi is released and appreciate the energy it gives us to be more hard-working and brave.”
While Suu Kyi’s release has given hope to many inside Burma, it seems a majority of those refugees who remain languishing in camps on the Thai-Burmese border predict little change in Burma. With little hope that Thailand will begin registering refugees again, many fear being repatriated to military-ruled Burma in the near future.
“We are trapped between a regime which oppresses us and a country which is scared of that regime,” said Naw Ploe. “Suu Kyi’s release is just another performance to help the regime get richer and more powerful.”
MAE SOT—During the three-hour bus journey from Mae Sot to Umpiem refugee camp there are at least five checkpoints. For Myat Thint this is a problem. He tried to avoid eye contact with the police as they circled the taxis demanding papers.
“Being a refugee is like being in prison,” he said after we had successfully gotten through the first checkpoint.
|
When asked whether he felt Suu Kyi’s release may help his situation he said, “I am really happy that 'our mother' is not locked up, but I don’t expect I can return home any time soon.”
He pointed out that her release could put an end to sanctions, which would just increase forced relocations such as that which had displaced his family in Mon State.
“The generals will exploit her release. They didn't let her go free for the good of the country,” he said as the pick-up truck-cum-taxi roared along the dusty border road. “The international community will think it’s time to stop imposing sanctions, but the SPDC [ruling State Peace and Development Council] don’t know how to organize development for the common people. They will just force thousands from their land to increase their profits.”
Myat Thint had just traveled to Mae Sot to take his mother to the general hospital to receive treatment for a severe infection. He went through the official procedure and obtained a camp pass. However his mother had to stay longer and he wanted to stay by her side.
“She was scared to stay by herself in a Thai hospital, so I stayed an extra day. But when they said she would have to stay even longer I had to come back,” he said.
At the next checkpoint, he wasn’t so lucky. Once again the police swirled around the car, as if sizing up their Burmese prey. When they got to Myat Thint, they found that his camp pass is one day out of date. He showed them his UNHCR card, it had little effect. He was ordered off the bus. Later that night, he had still not arrived at the camp.
News of Aung San Suu Kyi’s release on Nov. 13 spread quickly through the refugee camps dotted along the Thai-Burmese border. For the 130,000-plus refugees who have escaped Burma citing oppression and human rights abuse, it was a happy moment; but, like Myat Thint, few expect the event to enable them to return to Burma any time soon.
On that same date, Thiha sat in his flimsy bamboo home in Umpiem refugee camp listening to the events unfold on a wireless radio. He heard that the barricades were removed from University Avenue and supporters were rushing in to get a glimpse of “The Lady.”
“I was so happy when I heard that she was released,” Thiha said.
In 1996, Thiha listened to Suu Kyi’s speeches every week when she was free to speak publicly as much as she wanted. Suddenly, though, the SPDC placed heavy restrictions on her, including banning her weekly speeches.
In response to the SPDC’s actions, Thiha was one of many who protested. He was subsequently caught and arrested by Burma's notorious security forces and punished with seven years imprisonment for his actions. When he was released, he was under heavy surveillance. He said he no longer wanted to live under the fear that he could be arrested at any time, so fled to Thailand.
“The moment they feel Daw Suu is getting too powerful again, I am sure they will just place restrictions on her and lock up her supporters,” he said.
Former Karen National Union major Saw Htoo, now a resident at Umpiem refugee camp, said he shares the others' happiness but doesn’t see how she can improve the country in the near future.
“Suu Kyi is sincere, and is the true leader of the country,” said Saw Htoo. “But she can’t change the country if she has no position of power in Burmese politics, and the regime won’t allow her to have the power to do anything.
“Everything is up to the SPDC,” he added. “If they change their minds, then the country can change. Meanwhile, we have to remain in the refugee camps.”
Soe Lay, a former political prisoner of 10 years due to his involvement in the 1988 uprising, also voiced his doubts about what Suu Kyi can achieve.
“She has been trying to achieve national reconciliation for 10 years now, but the regime has shown no desire to work with her,” he said.
Soe Lay said he believes they will arrest Suu Kyi after Parliament is convened at the end of January, and he warned the Nobel Peace Prize laureate to start making plans. He suggested that she should become more unified with the insurgent groups.
“This time, she will try non-violent methods and they will arrest her again,” he said. “She needs to get closer to the insurgent groups and unify them. When the time comes and she is arrested, the insurgent groups must unify and rise up to save the country.”
One of the biggest concerns among refugees in the camps is for the safety of Suu Kyi. Many fear the ruling junta could “take her out” at any time. Many recall the day she was almost assassinated in May 2003 when a government-sponsored mob attacked her convoy in Depayin killing at least 70 NLD members.
“My fear is that the SPDC organizes something similar to the assassination of Benazir Bhutto,” said Toe Aung, a former NLD member and NLD youth co-coordinator.
When asked whether he felt that Suu Kyi could improve the conditions for refugees, he said, “She can try with words, but it is up to Thailand.
“Now the Thai authorities have stopped registering refugees since 2005, so many of us remain unregistered and without any foreseeable futures.”
Naw Ploe, an ethnic Karen woman who 10 years ago fled the fighting in Karen State and now lives in Mae La camp, said she felt Suu Kyi’s release could even worsen their situation.
“For 10 years I have lived with my family in Thailand in relative safety to escape all the fighting,” she said from the steps of her bamboo home.
“Suu Kyi’s release could give Thailand an excuse to send us back,” she said. “But we can’t go back. You can see from the recent fighting that there is no peace in Burma.”
Despite the many concerns, there has been an increase in energy among some youths, according to May Thaw, a student in Nu Po refugee camp.
“Many of the young people in the camp are always complaining that we don’t get real education certificates and have no future,” she said. “Now we try not to think about what might happen, and instead just enjoy the fact that Suu Kyi is released and appreciate the energy it gives us to be more hard-working and brave.”
While Suu Kyi’s release has given hope to many inside Burma, it seems a majority of those refugees who remain languishing in camps on the Thai-Burmese border predict little change in Burma. With little hope that Thailand will begin registering refugees again, many fear being repatriated to military-ruled Burma in the near future.
“We are trapped between a regime which oppresses us and a country which is scared of that regime,” said Naw Ploe. “Suu Kyi’s release is just another performance to help the regime get richer and more powerful.”
UNHCR to Interview Jailed Burmese Rebels in Kolkata
By ZARNI MANN
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has been granted permission by the Indian government to send a team to meet and interview 34 Burmese rebels in Presidency Prison in the West Bengali capital of Kolkata in order to determine the jailed rebels' suitability for refugee status.
“The UNHCR office in India has granted access to interview the Myanmar nationals currently in detention in Kolkata to carry out refugee status determination,” said a spokeswoman for the UNHCR office in New Delhi.
The process has been ongoing since Jan. 5, and 16 of the 34 rebels have already been interviewed, she said.
On July 12, 2010, a court in Kolkata, formerly known as Calcutta, sentenced the 34 Burmese exiles to 15 months imprisonment and a fine of 6,000 rupees [US $130] each, after they had spent more than 10 years behind bars on charges related to insurgency.
The Solidarity Committee for Burma's Freedom Fighters in New Delhi has requested the Indian authorities not to send the detainees back to Burma where they would most likely face severe punishment.
Though it is unclear if and when the Indian government will release the detainees, democracy activists in India say they hope that the government will hand them over to the UNHCR.
Tint Swe, a New Delhi-based minister with the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma, the Burmese government in exile, said that giving the UNHCR access to the detainees shows a change in the Indian government's policy toward the case.
“This is a result of our approach to the UNHCR and the Human Rights Council,” he said. “They made contact directly with the Indian External Affairs office and Home Ministry, and as a result, they got access to the detainees.
“If the detainees meet the requirements of the UNHCR, they will be recognized as refugees,” he added. “Their freedom still lies in the hands of the Indian government. However, the detainees are overjoyed that a ray of hope has appeared.”
The rebels were arrested in 1998 in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands during a joint Indian military exercise codenamed “Operation Leech,” which also netted a large cache of arms, ammunition and explosives. The 34 are members of the National United Party of Arakan and of the Karen National Union.
The Indian Central Bureau of Investigation charged the 34 detainees with possessing invalid papers, smuggling weapons and explosives, and attempting to sell them to insurgents in northeastern India.
Held without charge for more than eight years in the Andaman islands, the detainees claim they had reached a deal with Indian intelligence allowing them to establish a base on Landfall Island in the Nicobar and Andaman archipelago in exchange for providing intelligence on Chinese naval activities in the Andaman Sea. They have said they asked India not to send them back to Burma.
They claim the deal was brokered by Indian intelligence officials, but after the intervention by the Burmese military regime, the Indian authorities killed six of the rebel leaders one day after the Burmese group arrived on Landfall Island.
India was previously a supporter of the democracy movement in Burma, but in the early 1990s introduced its “Look East Policy” to counter Chinese influence in the region. Closer relations were developed between India and the Burmese junta, trade subsequently increased, and India began supplying the Burmese regime with military hardware.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has been granted permission by the Indian government to send a team to meet and interview 34 Burmese rebels in Presidency Prison in the West Bengali capital of Kolkata in order to determine the jailed rebels' suitability for refugee status.
“The UNHCR office in India has granted access to interview the Myanmar nationals currently in detention in Kolkata to carry out refugee status determination,” said a spokeswoman for the UNHCR office in New Delhi.
The process has been ongoing since Jan. 5, and 16 of the 34 rebels have already been interviewed, she said.
On July 12, 2010, a court in Kolkata, formerly known as Calcutta, sentenced the 34 Burmese exiles to 15 months imprisonment and a fine of 6,000 rupees [US $130] each, after they had spent more than 10 years behind bars on charges related to insurgency.
The Solidarity Committee for Burma's Freedom Fighters in New Delhi has requested the Indian authorities not to send the detainees back to Burma where they would most likely face severe punishment.
Though it is unclear if and when the Indian government will release the detainees, democracy activists in India say they hope that the government will hand them over to the UNHCR.
Tint Swe, a New Delhi-based minister with the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma, the Burmese government in exile, said that giving the UNHCR access to the detainees shows a change in the Indian government's policy toward the case.
“This is a result of our approach to the UNHCR and the Human Rights Council,” he said. “They made contact directly with the Indian External Affairs office and Home Ministry, and as a result, they got access to the detainees.
“If the detainees meet the requirements of the UNHCR, they will be recognized as refugees,” he added. “Their freedom still lies in the hands of the Indian government. However, the detainees are overjoyed that a ray of hope has appeared.”
The rebels were arrested in 1998 in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands during a joint Indian military exercise codenamed “Operation Leech,” which also netted a large cache of arms, ammunition and explosives. The 34 are members of the National United Party of Arakan and of the Karen National Union.
The Indian Central Bureau of Investigation charged the 34 detainees with possessing invalid papers, smuggling weapons and explosives, and attempting to sell them to insurgents in northeastern India.
Held without charge for more than eight years in the Andaman islands, the detainees claim they had reached a deal with Indian intelligence allowing them to establish a base on Landfall Island in the Nicobar and Andaman archipelago in exchange for providing intelligence on Chinese naval activities in the Andaman Sea. They have said they asked India not to send them back to Burma.
They claim the deal was brokered by Indian intelligence officials, but after the intervention by the Burmese military regime, the Indian authorities killed six of the rebel leaders one day after the Burmese group arrived on Landfall Island.
India was previously a supporter of the democracy movement in Burma, but in the early 1990s introduced its “Look East Policy” to counter Chinese influence in the region. Closer relations were developed between India and the Burmese junta, trade subsequently increased, and India began supplying the Burmese regime with military hardware.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Burma refugees in Malaysia – no choice, no voice!
On 23 June 2009 Burma army troops captured a number of villagers in central Karen State. An entire family, including 2 children (ages 4 and 13) and a grandmother (65), was executed. 2 other children managed to escape and are now refugees in Thailand. These children will live with the trauma of witnessing their family killed for the rest of their lives, though they are now in relative safety across the border.
Burma, in fact, has been ranked as the world’s third largest source of refugees after Afghanistan and Iraq. However, the Thai / Burma border is not the only place you will be confronted with people who have been forced to flee political, ethnic and religious persecution in Burma.
Thousands of refugees escaping extensive human rights abuses perpetrated by the Burmese military junta, have been arriving in Malaysia, with the hope of not only registering with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), but of eventually being resettled in a third country.
Many of the approximately 40,000 Burmese refugees who have resettled in the United States since 1995, have come via Malaysia.
Refugees in Malaysia are regarded as illegal migrants as they have fled Burma and do not have passports. As such they are not extended any of the basic rights we regard as ‘normal’ in countries like Australia. Their children cannot go to school, their sick do not have access to medical care, and those who manage to find menial work are too often exploited and abused by employers.
Upon arrival in Malaysia, refugees are often arrested by the authorities, regardless of whether they have UNHCR papers. They can be imprisoned, taken to detention camps and /or taken to the Malaysia / Thai border for deportation. At the border these men, women and children become the prey of human traffickers, who demand individual ‘ransom’, which according to some reports, includes bank accounts in Kuala Lumpur to which money should be transferred. Those unable to pay are handed over to peddlers in Thailand, ranging from brothel owners to fishing boat cartels. Women are usually sold into the sex industry.
Ikatan Relawan Rakyat ( RELA), translated ‘Volunteers of Malaysian People’, a paramilitary civil volunteer corps, formed by the Malaysian government, is more feared by the refugees than the police. A typical tactic used to harass and arrest refugees is for RELA groups to position themselves outside churches and market places on a Sunday, where they know many refugees will be.
Persons identified as asylum seekers and refugees on their way to a third country, are seen as threats to national security.
In an interview with The New York Times, RELA director-general, Zaidon Asmuni, said, “We have no more Communists at the moment, but we are now facing illegal immigrants. As you know, in Malaysia, illegal immigrants are enemy No. 2.”
When Jo Hain and I visited the Kachin refugees in Kuala Lumpur in April this year, we heard firsthand the stories of abuse and harassment, and the daily struggle to simply survive as a refugee in Malaysia.
The Kachin are one of about 11 ethnic groups in Burma, and Kachin state is found to the far north and borders India to the west and China to the northeast. According to a March 2010 report, there are over 4,000 Kachin refugees in Malaysia, half of which are not officially registered.
Just before we arrived in Kuala Lumpur, bringing with us clothes, baby items, vitamins, toys, and educational items, several hundred refugees from Burma were arrested and taken to detention camps. These included young mothers with children, some of whom had been waiting at a bus stop to go back home.
And what is ‘home’ for Kachin refugees in Malaysia? It is usual for several families to live in one apartment on the outskirts of the city. There is no furniture (perhaps mattresses are spread out to sleep on at night), no air conditioning. Rents are high, and with food and transport costs it is not surprising that up to 15 people can exist in one 4 room apartment.
But the Kachin are resilient, hopeful and are striving to carve out a life for themselves while they wait, sometimes up to four years, for the chance to be resettled to a third country. There is now a school run by volunteer Kachin teachers for primary and secondary students. A pre school is also being set up for the little ones.
Many of the women have begun sewing and crocheting, with the goal of setting up an income generating business in Kuala Lumpur. Jo and I had the joy and privilege of bringing enough money with us, which had been donated by several friends from New Zealand, for two more industrial sewing machines to be purchased. To witness the excitement and enthusiasm of the young girls and older women, as they showed us what they had already created, and chatted with us about future projects, is one of the many highlights experienced on this brief trip.
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Chins up at Christmas
Source : TheStar
Strong faith and kindness from strangers have made Christmas a most cherished season for young Myanmar refugees in Malaysia.
FIFTEEN-year-old Chu Tin sits quietly content, his hands firmly clasped around his prize – a certificate and a bible. He has worked hard all year at school and is pleased to receive the Best Student award in his class.
It’s the year-end Christmas party where six refugee schools have combined for half a day of fun. Twinkly-eyed and cheeks flushed with excitement, 300 Chin child refugees from Myanmar are having the time of their lives in a little chapel in Kuala Lumpur where they have come to celebrate together.
Festive fun: Children perform enthusiastically when given the opportunity (pics above and below), at their year-end Christmas party. ‘They enjoy nothing more than entertaining a supportive audience,’ says their headmaster, Roger. Silver bells and colourful balloons line the wooden pews and pillars, lighting up the otherwise plain hall.
Several parties have been organised for these children in the weeks leading up to Christmas, a season they anticipate all year through. Just the day before, a hotel in Kuala Lumpur had invited some of the children for a Christmas luncheon; they were given presents and, to the kids’ delight, asked to perform a few numbers for the hotel staff and guests. It was heartening to witness the youngsters’ joy when they found brand new books, stationery, clothes and other goodies in neatly-wrapped boxes, all for them.
Their troubles temporarily forgotten, a symphony of happy choruses filled the air as the adults looked on with wide smiles.
The Chin children are nothing short of a joy to be with. Like the adults in their community, they are a warm and affectionate lot. When the children perform, what stands out is their enthusiasm and spirit. Even those in the audience are amazingly supportive. They shout, cheer and pay full attention as their friends perform. Little ones as young as three earn thunderous applause as they showcase their talents; pitch and timing may not be perfect but the audience doesn’t seem to mind.
“These children are always eager to learn and they do so quickly because they don’t take things for granted,” says Susan*, a volunteer Malaysian teacher from a local church.
Ah-Mun, a Chin teacher agrees: “They are a pleasure to teach especially when it comes to performing arts. They have great showmanship and a great capacity for learning new things, namely languages, singing and dancing.” Discipline problems are almost unheard of.
According to the UN refugee agency UNHCR Malaysia spokesperson Yante Ismail, as of November 2010, there is a record 92,200 UNHCR-registered refugees in Malaysia. “Ninety-two percent of these refugees are from Myanmar, comprising the various tribes such as the Rohingyas, Myanmar Muslims, Mon, Kachins and Chins. From this figure, 7,700 are children below the age of 18 from the Chin ethnicity.”
(The Chin State is located in western Myanmar. It spans 36,019sqkm and is made up of a sparsely populated mountainous region.)
Some of the Chin refugees in Malaysia were born here while the majority came after a harrowing journey from Myanmar.
At the moment, there is no governing body for these Chin communities that take refuge in the Klang Valley but through the collective effort of various non-profit organisations and devoted volunteers from the public, approximately 5,000 of these children are able to access education through informal learning centres as well as enjoy good meals supplied to them at school.
Classmates cheering wildly as their friends perform on stage. It has been a long road for these children and the excitement they display at festive concerts and parties belies the hardship and heartbreak they have had to endure.
Most have travelled to Malaysia with their parents or relatives under harsh conditions in search of freedom but even here, their worst nightmares are not over.
For most of us, it is impossible to imagine what it must be like to be rejected in one’s home country so much so that one has to seek asylum elsewhere – but sadly, that is what life has become for the Chin people since General Ne Win led a coup that toppled the Burmese civilian government in 1962.
In Myanmar, where the Burmese – or Bamar – represent the majority race and the military junta rule, the Chin tribes continually face persecution and prejudice. As Myanmar is predominantly a Buddhist nation, minority tribes such as the Chins – which are one out of the 135 minority ethnic groups there – are oppressed for their faith and race.
“We are denied jobs, citizenship benefits and as the millitary junta pleases, they raid our homes to recruit adults for unpaid labour and children for the army,” says 31-year-old Roger*, one of six headmasters attached to the Chin Student Organisation in KL. Roger has lived here for nearly three years and almost all of his time is spent developing an education framework for the children in this tight-knit community. There are 32 Chin teachers – university graduates – working in six schools within KL.
The children enjoying lunch funded by a kind expatriate couple, Geoff and Lorna Briscoe. NGOs and charitable donors often provide food and other necessities for the Chins. “I have a Bachelor of Science in Geology from Kalay University in Sagaing Division (situated by the Chin State border) but I did not stand a chance in securing a job in Myanmar; priority would naturally go to the Burmese,” testifies 26-year-old Biak, the second of four sibblings in his family to leave Myanmar for greener pastures.
He explains that many of his people leave their homes and travel to India, Bangladesh, Thailand and Malaysia to seek asylum. Biak was only 23 when he embarked on the perilous seven-day journey through the deep jungles of Indochina in search of freedom.
Despite dire circumstances, it is the Chin people’s unfaltering faith that has seen them through many a dark night.
Their Christian faith dates back to the early 1800s when one of the first few American Baptist missionaries to Burma, Adoniram Judson, spent 40 years establishing Baptist churches in the nation.
The open-minded Chin tribe embraced the faith and thus began their spiritual heritage.
“We have been Christians for at least 100 years,” says Thawng Sian Kham, the president of Zomi Education Centre, which is one of the more established Chin education centres in Kuala Lumpur.
Despite many tribulations and oppression, the Christmas traditions and its original meaning are not lost on these simple folk.
“Back in Myanmar, relatives from near and far would travel to our home for a good time together. Sometimes, we head out to the beach or a park for a picnic. It’s beautiful to enjoy simple things like that without disturbance from the junta,” Roger says.
“It’s a time of celebration for God’s gift of his son to us. Christmas is a very precious occasion for our community where, in the morning, we worship and celebrate at church and later in the evening, we get together again for a dinner gathering where we continue our celebration by feasting and performing,” says Biakmaiwi, a 34-year-old mother-of-four Chin. Her children attend Roger’s school.
Christmas dinners are a communal effort where everyone chips in a little cash so that the women can put a feast together.
“It’s not a problem when some of the families cannot afford to contribute. Everyone is welcome and we are just thankful to have each other.”
Like many others who seek refuge in our country, Biakmaiwi’s story is tragic and poignant.
Although she is one of the more fortunate Chin women who have managed to flee Myanmar with her husband and children, her three-year stay here has not been one without pain.
A year ago, a friend’s emergency SMS at 4pm alerted her to a raid in a neighbouring block.
Local police and members of RELA often raid areas and capture these refugees – who are mistakenly regarded as illegal immigrants – and relocate them to detention facilities. Being caught could mean possible deportation, severence from family and possibly even physical assault.
(Then) seven-month pregnant Biakmaiwi grabbed her children and made a quick exit into a nearby field where they spent the gruelling night waiting until the officers had cleared the vicinity.
All were unharmed save for the baby; Biamaiwi went into premature labour from the intense physical duress and gave birth to a stillborn child. Painful stories like this have moved many NGOs, religious organisations, corporations and kind individuals to offer help whenever possible.
Spreading the yuletide cheer
Among kind contributors this yuletide season are 130 children from Pantai Baptist Church in Kuala Lumpur. A church staff member, Sue Shiew, has organised a popular gift concept – The Shoebox Project – through which local children will present a Christmas gift to a Chin child about the same age, and it can be anything that fits into a shoebox.
“We want to teach our children to give. There are many children out there who don’t even have bare necessities and we want our kids to understand the lesson of making things better for others,” Shiew explains.
Nine-year-old Asha Joanna Reddy says: “I’ve prepared a complete stationery set for a girl and I’m really looking forward to see how she will react when she gets it!”
Her sisters, Aathi Jane, 11 and Anita Joy, five, have prepared stationery, books, a soft toy and toy car as their gifts.
The beautiful part about all the love that pours in for the Chin community is that it happens beyond the festive season.
Bodies such as Malaysian Care, a non-profit Christian organisation that helps the underprivileged; local churches; and kind-hearted individuals continue to willingly pool their resources, time and effort to help out.
“When this particular Chin community was in its initial stages of settling down in KL four years ago, we came in as hands-on advisors to help them build their educational system. We mapped out a syllabus for the teachers and helped them establish a structure through which the children could learn English, Mathematics, General Science and Chin literature. Extracurricular activities for the children such as periodical physical activities and an annual sports day are included too.
“These teachers (Chin adults) have become independent now after three years of close guidance,” says education advisor Leong Wye Hoong of Malaysian Care. Malaysian Care’s early involvement with the Chin community garnered the attention of many other well-meaning organisations and today, a number of devoted individuals step in on a weekly basis to teach, provide meals and help out with odd jobs around the schools.
“Some are donors who help foot the bill for rental and other basic ammenities to keep these schools going,” Leong says.
Beatrice Thoeny, a kind-hearted expatriate who has been helping out, says: “The Chin people’s needs are neverending but we do what we can to ease their burden.”
Moved by the children’s plight, Thoeny has put her connections to good use by mobilising helpers to refurbish the school by repainting the walls and replacing the flooring. A delicious lunch is prepared for the children weekly too.
“We are beyond grateful for all the privisions that have been coming our way. I’m very happy to see our children so happy at this time of the year,” Roger says with a broad smile: “Thanks to the kindness of people who have now become our friends, we can experience the warmth of Christmas.”
* Some of the names in the article have been altered to preserve anonymity. Well-wishers who wish to contribute by volunteering or providing financial aid may e-mail the UNHCR at infomalaysia@unhcr.org. The UNHCR in Malaysia is not the official governing body for the Chin community but will be able to effectively channel resources to provide assistance to the refugees.
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