By Lindsay McPhee and Yolanda Zaw,
The West Australian
A Burmese refugee who has not seen her children for five
years has expressed her heartache and frustration at claims people
smugglers have been granted residency in Australia.
Sui Neih Maui,
an ethnic Chin who was the first refugee to be settled in WA under the
so-called Malaysia deal last year, has not seen her daughters, aged 8,
14 and 16, since she and her husband fled from persecution in Burma in
2007.
As she waits patiently for visas for her children to be
approved so they can be reunited, Ms Maui condemned people smugglers and
those who posed as refugees to enter Australia.
"Everyone deserves a fair chance and what they are doing is not Sui fair," she said.
"People
who take refugees' money and promise them they can come to Australia
quicker, they aren't fair, it is not fair because I had to wait and now
my daughters have to wait.
"We did everything the right way and we
are still waiting for them. I can understand why some people might want
to do it the illegal way if they think it will be faster but it is
dangerous. Waiting is hard but I know I will see my daughters again
soon."
Ms Maui and her husband made the heart-wrenching decision
to leave the girls behind with her mother for their own safety when they
fled to Malaysia. However, tragically, 12 months after they arrived, Ms
Maui's husband was murdered and she lived for years under the threat of
violence and in abject poverty in a Kuala Lumpur slum before being
relocated to Perth as a refugee.
"It has been very hard being away for such a long time from my family," she said.
Source : http://au.news.yahoo.com
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