Wednesday 11 May 2011

Welcome to the Recent Bilateral Agreement between Malaysia and Australia

source from arrcinfo, 10 May 2011

We, undersigned overseas Rohingya organizations welcome the recent bilateral agreement between Malaysia and Australia for the resettlement of 4000 recognized refugees from Malaysia, though bulk majority of people surprise on the trade of 800 asylum seekers from Australia.

We salute the Honorable Prime Minister of Malaysia, Mohammed Najib Tun Abdur Razzak, who is on rightful stance in ending refugee phenomena in Malaysia. His deal is directly representing the Rohingya refugees who have been languishing in Malaysia for more than 3 decades, reaching to 4th generation.
We also salute that the Honorable Prime Minister of Australia, Julia Gillard, who is keen to accept the Rohingya refugees from Malaysia, which was proved to the Rohingya Araknese Refugee Committee (RARC), Malaysia, previously known as Arakan Rohingya Refugee Committee (ARRC) by an email response from her behalf, dated 1 October 2010 “In relating to the Rohingya refugees in Malaysia, should the UNHCR refer individuals for the resettlement in Australia, their visa applications will be considered at that time in accordance with legal requirements for grant of a visa.”

Government of Malaysia is well versed on the matter that more than 40,000 non-Rohingya Burmese refugees were resettled to third countries by the UNHCR in Malaysia in a past decade, where numbers of Rohingya refugees are around 250.

The Government of Malaysia also know the matter that there were the only Rohingya refugees in early 1980s and 1990s, while non-Rohingya refugees and asylum seekers are scrambling into the highest numbers with the help of some sorts of bias NGOs under hatred and discriminative policies towards the believer of the religion of Islam, which was suddenly begun in post 9/11.
Therefore, the Government of Malaysia is keen enough to sign deal to open a door to find a long-lasting solution for the Rohingya refugees in Malaysia, whose rights are being undermined by various quarters.
The Government of Australia has good experiences on the sub-human condition and marginalized position of the Rohingya refugees, not only in Malaysia but also in abroad and thus the Government had already extended space for the Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh and releasing numbers of Rohingya asylum seekers from detention.

We hope that the Government of Australia will move for quick release of remaining Rohingya refugees from its detentions who are completed peace loving and waiting there for 2 years. At least 20-30 years of waiting for resettlement to third country, these Rohingya refugees left Malaysia, expecting a safe place through a perilous plight. Currently, their children, wives and beloved family members are underway to dangerous proportion with starvation, medication, protection and etc.
In these regards, we humbly appeal to both Governments of Australia and Malaysia to exercise balance role in resettling 4000 Rohingya refugees to Australia as an effective advocacy towards a long lasting solution for the world’s most forgotten and oppressed people “Rohingya”.

We also appeal to the international communities and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to help to co-operate the Governments of Australia and Malaysia to make success of the recent deal in order to find permanent solution for the Rohingya refugees who were inhumanely exterminated by successive military government of Burma through denial of citizenship rights, restriction on their movements, restriction on education, restriction on religious practice, restriction on family and economic development, forced labor, forced eviction, forced taxation, rape, torture, extra-judicial killings, model village settlement and many other types of gross human rights abuses which are clearly considered as “CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY”.

Signed by:
Arakan Rohingya Organization (JARO), Japan
Burmese Rohingya Association in United Arab Emirates (BRA-UAE)
Burmese Rohingya Democratic Alliance (BRDA)
Ethnic Rohingya Committee of Arakan (ERCA), Malaysia
Myanmar Muslim Council (MMC), Saudi Arabia
National Council for Rohingya (NCR), Malaysia
National Democratic Party for Human Rights (NDPHR) exile, Headquarters, USA
National Democratic Party for Human Rights (NDPHR) exile, SEA Regional Office, Malaysia
Arakan Rohingya Refugee Ulama Council (ARUC)
Rohingya Arakanese Refugee Committee (RARC), Malaysia
Rohingya Youth Development Forum (RYDF), Arakan-Burma
World Rohingya Congress (WRC), USA
Individual Activists, Human Rights Defenders and general refugees; and others

For media contact:
Kyaw Soe Aung Te: +14147364273
Mohammad Sadek Tel: +60 163094599