Comment

Comment by Taang Sianpu on April 8, 2011 at 9:10pm

A population in limbo

sunday@thestar.com.my

Until things improve, something needs to be done to help refugees awaiting resettlement to third countries or until they can return to their home countries.

WHO could have predicted that the fall of Saigon would impact Malaysia?

The capture of the South Vietnamese capital (now known as Ho Chi Minh City) by the North Vietnamese Army 35 years ago marked the end of the Vietnam War and the transition of a period leading to the formal re-unification of Vietnam under communist rule.

Making do: Vietnamese boat people at the Pulau Bidong refugee camp. Access to clean water is one of the basic needs of refugees. Malaysia’s first brush with refugees was with the South Vietnamese who came to be known as the boat people.

It led to a mass exodus of South Viet­namese who feared persecution because of their sympathies for the old government.

Many escaped by boat and ended up on our east coast, brought naturally by the tides. That was Malaysia’s first brush with refugees, who came to be known as the “Vietnamese boat people”.

“Refugees are people who are forced to leave their countries to avoid persecution,” says Alan Vernon, representative of the United Nations High Com­missioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

“The fear has to be justified. You can be afraid but the fear might not be justified.”

"The absence of a legal framework makes it more difficult for refugees" ALAN VERNON, UNHCR REPRESENTATIVE

He stresses on this fact because many people do not differentiate between migrants and refugees.

Under international law, a refugee is defined as a person who, owing to a well-founded fear of being prosecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a social group or political opinion, is in a foreign land and unable to avail himself of the protection of that country.

In contrast, migrants come to Malaysia because of economic opportunities.

There are over two million foreign workers in the country now, not including illegal workers. Most hail from Indo­nesia, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, India and Vietnam.

“A migrant can choose to return; they might go back to poverty but it is not the same as facing persecution or the possibility of being killed,” says Vernon.

The UNHCR began its operations in Malaysia in 1975 with the arrival of the Vietnamese boat people and this remained its main priority until 1996, when the Comprehensive Plan of Action on Indochinese refugees was officially brought to a close.

For over two decades, the UNHCR assisted Malaysia in hosting close to 250,000 boat people before durable solutions were found for them. Over 240,000 Vietnamese refugees eventually resettled in countries like the United States, Canada, Australia, France and New Zealand while some 9,000 returned to Vietnam.

As Malaysia is not a signatory to the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees or the 1967 Protocol that followed, the UNHCR is the main body protecting and assisting asylum-seekers and refugees here.

Malaysia also hosted thousands of Filipino Muslims from Mindanao during the 1970s and 1980s as well as Muslim Chams from Cambodia and Bosnians in the 1990s.

In recent years, thousands of people from Aceh, Ind

Comment by Chin Kim on April 8, 2011 at 8:59pm

I Representative i thugente leh a dotna te a dawng kikna pen mipil ding mah in om in, Government, Civil Society (Refugees) leh, UNHCR zum kikal thute pilvang tak in gen siang thei hi. A thugente pahtuai huai lua tel mai mo.

Comment by Zomi Daily on April 8, 2011 at 8:51pm

Thupi mahmah ei, mipi theihhuai hibang thute ong hawmsawn zel unmaw?

Comment by Taang Sianpu on April 7, 2011 at 6:39am

Lungdam ei Sawmpi. A thu leh la kicing leh, kician kasa mahmah hi. Makai icih pen tu a dan mah bang a, kuakua in bang bang hong dong zong in, kician sinsen in gen theih ziahziah thupi kasa hi. Btw, tuni no hun lai a i Pupipa ahi, Mr. Hendrif zong tu laitak ni 9 khong a tam ding in hong hawh pak hi ven. Tusun zong ka zum uh ah hong pai in kiho ungh. Amah bel a station pen Geneva i zumpi ah a sem hi. Refugee vai pen a tangzai mahmah leh, a sem a bawlte in zong baih sa lo veve uh hi. Mipi leh Kumpi' kikal ah palai hong sepsak uh hi mawk uh in pahtak huai kasa hi.

Comment by HL. Kham Sian' Sawm on April 6, 2011 at 9:40pm

U Sianpu.,hibang thu manpha te n'ong suahtheih nakpitak in manpha sa'ng.,thupi mahmah ei ! Good job !!!!

Comment by Tg. GT on April 6, 2011 at 8:34pm

Hih dan nong hopsawn uh thupi mahmah hi.

Malaysia ah kum 4/5 i om hang in hih dan thu manphate ki za ngeilo ban ah, UNHCR U lian mangpi taktak zong kimu ngei lo leh, kitheilo hi napi in, tun a thu leh a aw kiza ta suak in lungdam. Amah mah refugee hilo na pi, refugee hi ngeilo, Kawlgamte zong hilo napi in hih bang in hong deihsakna pen thupi mahmah hi. Zomi makai te in zong hih bang lungsim a neih ding deih huai kasa hi.