Please feel free to copy, paste, edit and email this letter below to your Member of Parliament who is representing your constituency. They need to hear our voices.
************************************************************************
Dear ________________________________
I am writing to you because I am deeply concerned over the way refugees, particularly from Myanmar are treated in our land, Malaysia. We are a peace-loving people, and we need to be committed to the protection of the rights of refugees.
As a member of the Human Rights council, Malaysians need to take a more aggressive stance against human trafficking at the Thai-Malaysian border, exploitation of undocumented migrants and the deplorable living conditions at detention centres.
I call on our government and authorities to speedily and deliberately:
1) Adopt laws and regulations concerning the status of asylum seekers and refugees, as stated in the recommendations by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), of which Malaysia is party to. These people need access to reasonable public healthcare and the children should have the right to basic education.
2) Take measures necessary to allow these refugees to have legal work permits in order for them to make a humane and honest living (without exploitation), until they are repatriated to a 3rd safe country by the UNHCR or are able to return safely home to their country of origin.
I would like to highlight 3 preliminary areas Malaysia should URGENTLY focus on:
Firstly, refugees need to be given limited work permits so that while they wait to be processed and transferred to a 3rd safe country by UNHCR, they can support themselves and their families financially. Currently, they are only allowed to do “odd jobs”. The nature of this term “odd jobs” is undefined and does not come under any legal jurisdiction. As a result, many are being taken advantage of (wages unjustly withheld, extremely unsafe and oppressive work conditions, sexual harassment, abuse, etc.) by unscrupulous employers. In a nutshell, Malaysians are treating these refugees as slaves. The following is the experience of a young Burmese man named Michael, who was unjustly detained while at work:
“I hide myself in my flat everyday after work. When I see a policeman, I break out in cold sweat. I now work in a factory slogging the hours away – we start at 8am and finish at 9pm. The owner of the factory says we are ‘desperate labourers that they can pay RM20 a day’. I have no choice, as I have to pay my cousin the RM1800 he loaned me.”
from Tenaganita’s book The Revolving Door (page 75).
Secondly, the police, RELA and immigration officials need to ensure the safety of detained children. Children below 18 years old who are detained and separated from their parents during raids are in grave danger of being physically injured, sexually abused and sold to human traffickers. These children are especially vulnerable to the horrendous conditions at prisons and detention centres and must be separated from the adults. The need for additional care has been documented several times, such as from Burmese refugees Au and her sister Cho, who were arrested for being illegal migrants, together with their young daughters – a sickly 2 year old toddler, and an 8 year old suffering from polio:
“In all, we were in detention for one month. And I thank god it wasn’t longer. The RELA officers were inhuman; they didn’t care about us or our children. If the children were sick or needed extra care, it didn’t matter to them.”
from Tenaganita’s book The Revolving Door (page 63)
Last but not least, refugees desperately need access to basic healthcare at public hospitals and clinics, as well as at the detention centres. This is a basic human need. Many of them are denied basic medical assistance for job-related injuries by their employers. In addition, they are charged very high medical fees (foreigner fees) when they visit public hospitals which are beyond their means. Hamzah, a 52 year old Burmese, suffers from bronchitis and asthma and shares his experience of being extorted while at a detention centre:
The next day, I’m taken by the camp officer to the administration building. Along the way, he turns to me and says, “Your Indonesian friend is good, he pay RM50 so I will take you to see doctor”. The doctor does the check up and says I have asthma and bronchitis, and prescribes me medicine. Then there’s bad news for me. ‘Detention camp policy says patients have to leave their medicine in the clinic,’ the doctor tells me. How am I going to access them? Do I have to pay the Rela officer RM50 just to bring me back to the clinic again?
from Tenaganita’s book The Revolving Door (pages 68 & 70)
I would like to close this appeal letter with a final quote from Tenaganita’s book, The Global Catch, page 80.
What becomes of a man who toils and toils, but reaps no benefits? Who can speak but is never spoken to? Who eats only from the scraps of others? Who knows naught time or day, month or year? Who cannot rest when weary, or close his eyes to seek relief? Who has a family and loved ones, but doesn’t know if they are alive or dead? What becomes of a person who is stripped from all choice, freedom and dignity? What are they left with?
Yang Berhormat, there is no such thing as an illegal human. All humans are precious and have the right to be treated with dignity and respect, regardless of race, nationality, religion and social status. Malaysians must do our part to stop modern-day slavery by adopting the measures mentioned above.
Yours truly,
__________________________
****************************************************************
The PDF copy of the letter is here to download: Letter of Concern Regarding the Treatment of Refugees
Get a list of email addresses of some MPs/authorities are here: Email Addresses of Malaysian Authorities
