Malaysiandigest, 12 July 2010
This is the first of the two-series interview with United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Malaysia Alan Vernon, on several issues relating to refugees and asylum seekers.
KUALA LUMPUR, 12 JULY, 2010: Malaysia has been a
heaven for refugees starting with the Vietnamese boat people who landed
in droves on her shores following the end of the Vietnam War in April
1975.
At the height of the refugee crises about 250,000 Vietnamese people
took shelter in Pulau Bidong (a small island off Terengganu's coast)
before most of them resettled in third countries including the United
States, Canada, Australia, France, New Zealand, Sweden, Finland, Denmark
and Norway.
Also, about 9,000 of the refugees returned to Vietnam.
Even after the Pulau Bidong camp was finally closed in October 1991,
Malaysia till today remains a heaven for refugees from other countries.
Refugees are actually a global problem and there are 50 million
refugees worldwide, said Alan Vernon, 56, the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Malaysia.
UNHCR commenced operations in Malaysia in 1975 initially to deal with
the Vietnamese boat people. UNHCR also helped the Malaysian Government
in receiving and resettling over 50,000 Filipino Muslims who fled
Mindanao to Sabah during the 1970s and 1980s.
UNHCR also supported the Malaysian Government in resettling several
thousand Muslim Chams from Cambodia in the 1980s and several hundred
Bosnian refugees in the 1990s.
Refugee Statistics
In Malaysia, at the end of May 2010 there were some 88,100 refugees and
asylum-seekers registered with UNHCR's office where they were given the
UNHCR identification document.
At present, Myanmar is seen as the biggest contributor of refugees to
Malaysia with out of the total, 81,600 are from that ASEAN nation.
The Myanmar refugees consist of some 38,900 Chins, 18,900 Rohingyas,
6,400 Muslims, 3,800 Mon, 3,600 Kachins and the remaining being other
ethnic minorities from Myanmar.
"Many more are in Thailand and that country has possibly four to five
million refugees from Myanmar because they share the common border.
"For them to come to Malaysia, it is more difficult. They also come
here because they know they can survive here. If they cannot survive,
they will not come.
"So I think Malaysia is a victim of its own success. If your economy is worst, you will have your own refugees," said Vernon.
Other 6,600 refugees and asylum-seekers are from other countries
including some 3,500 Sri Lankans, 930 Somalis, 580 Iraqis, 530 Afghans
and 200 Palestinians.
In terms of gender, 70 percent of refugees and asylum-seekers are men while 30 percent are women.
There are also a large number of unregistered refugees and asylum-seekers with their number estimated at 10,000 persons.
Not in Camps
One of the good things about refugees in Malaysia, as pointed out by Vernon is that they do not stay in camps.
The refugee communities live in decent low cost housings across the country, often sharing these spaces with large groups.
"Sometimes the people think camps are a good solution for refugees but
generally what happened in camps is that the people suffer much, much
more.
"You would also have a situation of forced dependency, people on welfare, people have to be taken care of in the camps.
"Very often when camps are created they tend to last longer than other
kind of situations because the camps take on a life of their own,"
explained Vernon who has been the UNHCR Representative in Malaysia since
November 2008.
His association with refugees goes a long way starting with the
Vietnamese refugees while he was teaching in the United States in 1978.
He joined UNHCR in 1987 and held the position of Associate Resettlement
Officer in UNHCR Field Office in Kuala Terengganu (1987-1991). His
other postings with UNHCR took him to Sri Lanka and Geneva.
Vernon noted it was a very positive move that the Malaysian government
allows the refugees to move about, which means they could find ways to
take care of themselves and to fulfill their own requirements.
Refugees and Migrants
However, there is one important thing that Vernon will like Malaysians to understand, that is, a refugee is not a migrant.
UNHCR's definition of a refugee is a person who is forced to leave home
based on a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of
political opinion, ethnicity, religion or membership in a particular
group.
"Luckily Malaysia has never had a situation like that. Malaysia has
never produced refugees. We are very happy about that but are hopeful
that Malaysians will be tolerant of the fact that refugees did not
choose to come to Malaysia.
"They were forced to leave their homes and they cannot go back until
the condition back home improves so that they are no longer at risk
because of the fear that they face - imprisonment and possibly death.
"This is in contrast to migrants who made a choice to leave their
countries for better economic opportunities or better education,"
stressed Vernon.
It is estimated that Malaysia has in the region of three to four million migrants with 50 percent of those being here legally.
Common Challenge
With no short term solution for the refugee problem, the common
challenge is to find a way to fulfill the needs of the refugees and at
the same time protect the interest of the host country as a whole.
For the record, Malaysia is not a party to the 1951 Convention and its Protocol relating to the status of refugees.
Becoming a signatory to the Refugee Convention is an important thing to
do otherwise everything has to be done on goodwill. However, this is
not predictable and it does not provide guidance to all levels of
government.
"So there is a need to put in a legal framework. This is very crucial.
This is to make sure they are protected, they are safe, secure until
such time when they can go home. Some of them can be resettled but this
can never be a solution for every refugee," he added.
Vernon told Bernama that there are fewer resettlement places than there are refugees in Malaysia.
He said his side submitted more than 10,000 refugees for resettlement
last year but reiterated the best solution for refugees was to go home.
Managing the Issue
Where refugees are concerned, Vernon expresses his optimism that the
success stories achieved with the Vietnamese boat people and the
Achenese shows there is a solution for the refugee problem.
"When the Vietnamese boats started arriving in Malaysia in 1975 and
increased in 1979, it felt like it would go on forever. But it was all
over by 1991. The Achenese is another good example, they came and after
tsunami they went home," he said.
According to him, Myanmar is a country that is likely to continue producing refugees for sometime to come.
"There is an election this year and despite the problems in the country
we are hopeful that things would get better there," he added.
The practical reality is that, he said, Malaysia would need to think
about how to deal with the situation in Myanmar. Malaysia being part of
Asean should to take into account of the Myanmar refugee problem in its
foreign policy and find ways to deal with the situation at the source.
"One of the challenges for Malaysia as it aspires to be a fully
developed country by 2020 is that it will need to assume its global
responsibility and one of those is to help the situation of refugees.
"The way it works has to be through partnership. UNHCR is here. Other
NGOs and international communities can also help and I think there is
plenty of space to manage this issue in a better way.
