Khaw (not his real name), a burmese refugee, has been in and out of malaysia since 1991.he is an ethnic chin and hails from the Chin state(light blue on the map) which lies next to india and bangladesh. life was real hard in myanmar and job opportunity are far and few between. ocassionally he will cross over the border into india to do some trading. most often than not he will be stopped by the burmese army or the chin national army(a militant group figthing the junta goverment) who expect him to pay a large amount of money before he can cross the border. the army regularly dropped by his village to seek for a bribe or to harass the people in his village because they are chins. the chins have been fighting against the junta goverment for many years now to seek the right to form an autonomous state, free from the meddling hands of the opressive and corrupt military goverment. it is not uncommon for the chins to be caught and thrown into jail on mere suspicion alone for being a militant. once there, words can never fully describe the horror of torture and human rights abuse.
motivated by the desire to run away from the hardship of life and prosecution, Khaw finally paid RM1,500 (equivalent to what he makes in 9 months) to a group of human smugglers to help him enter malaysia illegally. he travelled by land all the way from the Chin state through thailand and into malaysia. once here, he got a job working in a construction site. work was hard and long and the pay minimal but at least he has a job and he was earning more than what he did in myanmar. he is one of the lucky few whose employers actually paid their wages. many refugees work for months only to be told at the end by the employers to take a hike without their pay. and these people cant do anything bout it cause they are in this country illegally and they cannot seek a legal recourse.
since 1991, Khaw has been caught(officially) and detained a total of 6 times. sometimes, the arresting officer (most of the time are rela members) would ask for a bribe. anything from money to handphone to watches will do. for those time that he did not have any valuables with him, he was detained. it is no suprise that he has little or no respect at all for men in uniform.
he has been to almost all the detention camp in malaysia. he said living condition in detention camp was terrible. the toilet has no flush or water. everyone just sleeps on the floor and the detainees are not allowed to leave their living quarters. food was bad. most of the time its just plain rice with a few miserable strains of green veg or half an egg. they only receive chicken meat once a week and it aint real big a piece. however, he denies ever being physically abuse by the detention camp officers.
he was was once found guilty by the court for entering the country illegally and was thrown into jail for a few months. he recalls, "lepas 3-4 bulan kat penjara, saya sudah boleh keluar. kertas kertas semua sudah sign barang semua dah kasi balik. tiba-tiba dia check sama record, penjara punya orang kata dia orang sudah lupa kasi saya rotan. dia cakap saya kena tinggal kat penjara untuk 3-4 hari lagi supaya dia orang boleh rotan saya. saya cakap you rotan saya sekarang saja. saya tak mau tinggal sini lagi."
so he was tied down to a plastic barrel with a guard holding his head down and he was given a stroke of the rotan. he said it was the most painful thing he had ever had to endure. "fuyoh, dia punya sakit, langsung tak boleh tahan. sakit gila!! 4 hari tak boleh duduk baik baik." and what did they do for him after that??
"dia kasi kain untuk sapu buntut dan satu panadol," he said, laughing.
once arrangements has been made, the burmese refugees are herded into a truck and are deported at the thailand border. at the borfer, they are released but groups of human smugglers (acting after being tip off by the immigration officers) will quickly get hold of them and they are kept locked up. there are only 2 outcomes. you either pay the smugglers RM1,500 for them to smuggle you back into malaysia or you dont pay and they will sell you into SLAVERY for RM5,000. i was shock when he told me that. at this time and age, slavery actually still exist. most of the time it is rich thai fisherman that buys them and the refugees have to work till the master feels they have done enough to pay off the RM5000. that can take up to 10-15 years.
Khaw had saved enough money to bring his wife, daughter and son into the country, illegally of course. they are living together in a room in a run down apartment. two other rooms are occupied by chinese and philipine illegal immigrants. Khaw and his family are now registered with UNHCR and are waiting to be resettle into America. depsite having UNHCR document stating that they are political refugees, they are still living in constant fear. they are not safe from the hands of law because malaysia is not a signatory of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of a Refugee. that means even with the UNHCR document, they can still be caught, charged in court and deported back to their country, which usually means death or imprisonment.
before i had to run off to continue with my work, i asked him if things got better in myanmar, will he want to go back. he replied, "tentu balik. myanmar rumah saya dan juga tempat terbaik. tapi kena tunggu demokrasi datang dulu."
"tapi itu tak tau berapa lama lagi...."
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