Time for RELA to stop arresting REFUGEES!

The various Burmese ethnic minorities fleeing Burma to Malaysia are registered as refugees by the UNHCR. Most of them are waiting to be relocated to another country eventually, yet while waiting they are contributing to our economy by doing menial jobs which most Malaysians would not even think of doing. Yet, even with valid UNHCR refugee cards, RELA again choose to ignore all international laws and raided the Burmese refugees on Jun 25 around the Jalan Imbi and Jalan San Peng area in downtown KL. 228 refugees were arrested and thrown into the Semenyih detention camp, among which 5 are pregnant women, and 30 are underaged including children.

When will this idiotic frankestein-ian creation of the Emergency period start understanding the basic difference between a refugee and an illegal/irregular immigrant? These people are escaping political and military persecution back home, and recognized and registerd by the UNHCR as valid refugees. Yet because of ignorance or political reasons the Malaysian government has refused thus far to recognize the good work done by the UNHCR, even on the most simple humanitarian basis. It is even more frustating when the Malaysian government not too long ago chose to "recognize" only the Rohingya Burmese as refugees by providing them work permits, but this seems to have hit a bad patch of road as well. Already RELA is acting almost above the law (they can simply crash down your door on the basis of suspicion...heck, even the PDRM needs a warrant of arrest and entry to enter your premise), and yet this band of ignorant merry-men is clamouring for more power!

Ironically one of those arrested was recently featured in The Star as the co-ordinator of a recent Burmese cultural event held in the Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall. Read here for a look into the lives of the refugees, many of whom are just children. Read Lulu's take on this unfortunate turn of events which keeps recurring. To understand the difficulties faced by such refugees, as well as their very human faces, please click here and here.