Call to allow Rohingya refugees to work legally

PETALING JAYA: With the number of refugees in Malaysia on the rise, it is high time the government ensures their basic human rights are protected.

A member of parliament and a rights organisation said, instead of bringing in foreign workers, these refugees should be given the jobs.

Klang MP Charles Santiago said the government should help those seeking refuge here with a chance at a normal life while waiting for permanent placements.

He described the government’s current management of the refugees as “poor”, due to the fact that most of them were destitute.

Santiago said how their presence would affect the country depended greatly on the way the situation was handled.

“Now, the cost to support these refugees is borne by the government and the people. But what the government can do is to get the refugees who are already here to work in service centres or in plantations.

“All they need is some basic education and some caring from the companies or the government itself.

“It would be good for the country as doing this is cheaper than bringing in more migrant workers,” he told FMT.

Santiago urged Putrajaya and other Asean governments to intervene in the conflict in Myanmar that had seen its minority Rohingya community “butchered and brutalised”.

Malaysia has the ability to do this as it is a member of both Asean and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Shahidan Kassim, in a Dewan Rakyat written reply Thursday, stated that the number of refugees in Malaysia had been on the increase since 2010.

He said as of September this year, the total number of refugees here was 150,226. Of this number, 143,669 are from Myanmar.

Myanmar Ethnic Rohingya Human Rights Organisation Malaysia President Zafar Ahmad Abdul Ghani, in response to this, said the number would increase if Putrajaya continued its “deafening silence” over the “genocide” in Myanmar, which is also a member of Asean.

“In order to survive, the Rohingya have to flee the country. So if the Malaysian Government refuses to intervene, more will come to seek refuge here,” he said when contacted by FMT.

At the very least, Zafar said, it should look into the wellbeing of the refugees who are here.

Otherwise, they would be left with no choice but to resort to illegal employment and that could cause the government more problems, he added.

“Find a way to help them assimilate with the community. Give them the jobs that Malaysians do not want instead of bringing in more foreign workers.

“Because the refugees are not here by choice. They have nowhere else to go and they can’t stay in their own country,” he said.

Myanmar Refugee Doctor Wins Humanitarian Prize for Clinic in Thailand

London. When Cynthia Maung saw the suffering of fellow refugees who had fled Myanmar's crackdown on a pro-democracy uprising in the late 1980s and sought sanctuary in neighboring Thailand, she knew she had to do something about it.

Maung, a doctor, decided to rally other medical professionals in the refugee camps in northwestern Thailand to help her open a clinic in the border town of Mae Sot.

Starting in 1988 with only four beds, the clinic has developed into a fully-fledged health facility providing inpatient services, surgery and trauma care, dental care, vaccinations and HIV prevention.

It treats more than 75,000 patients a year.

"The number of patients that arrive at the clinic each year is on the rise," said Maung, who received an international award on Wednesday (16/11) in recognition of her humanitarian work.

"We also train health workers and provide outreach services for patients who require access to medical attention closer to their communities," she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

"But the biggest challenge we face is in dealing with the trauma suffered by the displaced and their concerns about food, health care and job insecurities," Maung said before she was due to receive the AidEx Humanitarian Hero of the Year Award in Brussels.

Maung, from the Karen ethnic group, said she was concerned about a military crackdown in western Myanmar which has forced hundreds of Rohingya Muslims to flee to Bangladesh, trying to escape violence that has brought the number of dead confirmed by the army to more than 130.

Some of the Rohingya were gunned down as they tried to cross the Naaf river that separates Myanmar and Bangladesh, while others arriving by boat were pushed away by Bangladeshi border guards and may be stranded at sea, residents said.

The bloodshed is the most serious since hundreds were killed in communal clashes in the western Myanmar state of Rakhine in 2012. It has exposed the lack of oversight of the military by the seven-month-old administration of Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi.

"Fighting along the borders is still going on. That has left thousands of people displaced as a result and there hasn't been much improvement in regions still controlled by the military," Maung said.

"... those especially from ethnic minorities remain very anxious about their future. They want to see if the government in Burma will be all inclusive."

Mae Sot in Thailand is home to thousands of refugees from Myanmar who have fled conflict and violence, as well as tens of thousands of migrant workers, many of whom are in low-skilled, backbreaking jobs.

"As long as there is a need for us to be here and there are refugees and migrant workers that need protection, medical care and support, we will continue to be here and do what we do," Maung said.

Reuters

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Minister: There is an increase in Myanmar refugees

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 18 — The country received refugee applications from 17 nations through the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), said Minister in Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim.

Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim says most of the refugee applicants are from Myanmar, followed by Sri Lanka and Somalia. — Picture by Yusof Mat Isa

Shahidan,had in his written reply, said most of the applicants were from Myanmar, followed by Sri Lanka and Somalia since 2010.

Malaysia received 84,852 applications from Myanmar in 2010 and the numbers increased to 88,041 in 2011, 100,982 (2012), 131,387 (2013), 140,202 (2014), 143,669 last year and 135,286 this year.

“UNHCR will determine a person’s refugee status if it is within its charter,” he said.

Shahidan was replying to a question by Er Teck Hwa (DAP-Bakri) who had asked for a breakdown of the number of refugee applications that had been approved since 2010.

The Arau MP, however, said the ministry did not have the information of the number of applications accepted or rejected or the details of the applicants as the records were with UNHCR.

Malaysia begins pilot job project for Rohingya refugees

By P Prem Kumar

KUALA LUMPUR

Malaysia’s government will allow some 300 Rohingya refugees in the country to seek employment under a pilot project planned to last over the next three years.

Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi told parliament Monday that the Rohingya refugees -- who fled Myanmar’s troubled western Rakhine State –would be allowed to work in the plantation and manufacturing sectors.

Hamidi, who is also home minister, said the outcome of the pilot project would then determine the government's decision on whether to allow refugees to work.

He described the effort as being part of the government’s humanitarian policy despite Malaysia not being party to the United Nations’ 1951 Refugee Convention and the 1967 Protocol, which the country has been insistent on not signing.

"The government is in the midst of implementing a pilot project to allow 300 Rohingya to work in selected sectors namely plantation and manufacturing sectors, which is expected to take a period of three years,” Hamidi said.

"This is one of the government’s efforts to give preparation to this group before they return to their country or are sent to the resettlement country," he added.

For years, Rohingya -- described by the UN as among the most persecuted minority groups worldwide -- have been fleeing conflict in western Myanmar, with many using Thailand as a transit point to enter Muslim Malaysia and beyond.

In May 2015, thousands of Rohingya and Bangladeshi migrants were stranded at sea after Thailand launched an anti-trafficking crackdown after discovering the bodies of dozens of migrants near its border with Malaysia.

After initially turning back boatloads of migrants, Indonesia and Malaysia agreed to take Rohingya in for one year, accommodating those deemed to be refugees on the condition that the international community then resettle them.

Hamidi insisted Monday that Malaysia's acceptance of Syrian refugees -- to whom temporary residency and work permits are granted -- should not be compared with the Rohingya, saying Syrian refugees had been offered shelter in the country and were not “illegal immigrants”.

He said the processing of Rohingya and Syrians were two different matters for the government’s consideration, especially in terms of responsibility and the country’s security requirements.

"Thus, to date the government does not have any suggestions or considerations to provide temporary settlement and work permits for the Rohingya [as given to the Syrians],” he said.

"This is because the actual solution needed for them is by resolving the root cause in the country of origin [Myanmar]," he said.

In October last year, Prime Minister Najib Razak announced that Malaysia would open its doors to 3,000 Syrian migrants over a three-year period during a speech at the 70th session of the UN General Assembly.

More than 20 Syrian refugee families have already arrived in Malaysia to-date, all screened through the Advance Passenger Screening System with the cooperation of Interpol and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Malaysia is expected to take in 1,000 Syrian refugees every year from 2016 to 2018, but with proper security surveillance of each individual.

Malaysia currently hosts one of the largest urban refugee populations in the world.

As of 2014, some 146,020 refugees and asylum seekers had been registered with the UNHCR in Malaysia, of which the vast majority -- 135,000 -- are from Myanmar.

The vast majority of them are Chin, Rohingya and other Myanmar Muslims.

UNHCR approves 888,294 applications since 2010 to stay in Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 888,294 applications by refugees from various countries to stay in Malaysia were approved by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) from 2010 to September this year.

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim said refugees from 17 countries were found in Malaysia with those from Myanmar forming the highest number approved at 824,419, according to statistical records of the UNHCR office, here.

He said this was followed by those from Sri Lanka (26,615), Somalia (8,532), Pakistan (7,541), Iraq (6,394) and other countries (14,793).

"The business of determining the status of the refugees' applications is that of the UNHCR in accordance with its charter," he said in his written reply to a question from Er Tech Hwa (DAP-Bakri) at the Dewan Rakyat sitting, Wednesday.

Shahidan, however, said the ministry did not have information on the number of applications that were rejected, the ages of the refugees and the lengths of their stay in this country. -- BERNAMA