Hunt for Illegal Alarms Political Refugees

The Straits Times
Saturday, February 12, 2005

They plead for special passes in case they are picked up by police as Malaysia starts repatriation of foreign workers

By Reme Ahmad, Malaysia Bureau Chief

KUALA LUMPUR - MALAYSIA'S drive to repatriate illegal foreign workers has alarmed foreigners pleading to stay in the country as political refugees.

About 25,000 of those seeking political asylum are from Aceh in Indonesia and the Rohingya community in Myanmar.

Their representatives say if Acehnese and Rohingyas are deported, they will face long jail terms in their countries.

They want special Malaysian government passes they can show to the enforcement authorities if they are stopped on the streets.

Some of the Acehnese and Rohingyas have passes or letters from the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) stating that they are political refugees.

'We hope they can be given temporary permits to stay on,' UNHCR chief Volker Turk told The Straits Times. 'Right now, we register them and the government recognises this gentlemen's agreement...we are hoping for a more official agreement.'

The lives of the refugees changed after the government announced in October its plans for the mass deportation of illegal immigrants.

'We feel very insecure and dare not go out at night anymore in case we are stopped by the police,' said a leader of the Aceh community.

He did not give his full name for fear of being identified as a sympathiser of the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) group.

According to the UNHCR, there are about 15,000 Acehnese in Malaysia seeking political asylum and another 10,000 Rohingyas who are Muslims from the province of Arakan.

Other groups include Moros from the Philippines and the Chins from Myanmar.

Rohingya community leader Ghiyathudeen bin Maulana Abdul Salam said many members were 'stateless' because they were not recognised as Myanmar citizens.

'We are not economic migrants. We can feed and house ourselves but we are in a limbo because we cannot go back to Arakan,' said Mr Ghiyathudeen, the head of the National Council for Rohingyas.

Last month, a statement by 40 non-governmental organisations said the deportation drive must take into account the status of political refugees.

The forced deportation of these vulnerable people would breach international law and put them at risk of serious human-rights violations, including extrajudicial executions, the statement said.

Malaysia, which is often sympathetic to Muslims displaced by war and strife, has given shelter to Bosnian, Cambodian and Vietnamese Muslims, and the Moros from the Philippines. But it is reluctant to announce openly its readiness to welcome political refugees for fear of a massive influx.

Meanwhile, the Indonesian Ambassador to Malaysia, Mr H. Rusdihardjo, said legal action against employers who had allegedly failed to pay the salaries of a group of illegal Indonesian workers would be taken only as a last resort.

'Right now what we are doing is to engage lawyers to assist our counsellors to get these employers to pay the salaries of our workers, legal or not,' he said.

'It is not true that we are going to take them (Malaysian employers) to court right away. That action would be our last resort.'

His remarks came a day after Malaysian leaders spoke against such a move. Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak was quoted as saying Indonesia should think twice before beginning legal proceedings.