these Rohingya Muslims are going to Malaysia to join their tens of thousands people living in Malaysia... they have to enter thailand first and enter Malaysia from land (if they come to Malaysia by the sea, the navy and immigration would send them back to Myanmar.
But, Malaysia is not really a paradise for them...
Human Rights Watch report confirms Malaysia’s mistreatment of Rohingya refugees
By a correspondent in Bangkok
[Crescent International, August 16-31, 2000.]
Police extortion, torture, beating: these are some of the realities faced by Rohingya Muslims who cross the border from Burma to Malaysia in order to escape the brutal Burmese junta, according to a report released by the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) on August 1. The report is yet another blow to the claims of Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad that Malaysia is a "model Muslim country".
The 78-page report, called "Living in Limbo: Burmese Rohingyas in Malaysia", documents the treatment meted out by Malaysian authorities to Rohingyas fleeing from Burmese persecution of minorities. The report notes that refugees in Malaysia, unlike other countries, are not permitted to attend school and are denied health care.
Even individuals recognised as refugees by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees are arrested and deported. In a statement, HRW said the Rohingya face a whole new set of abuses in Malaysia including beatings, extortion and arbitrary detention. "Malaysia’s treatment of the Rohingya is part of a larger failure to protect refugees, no matter where they come from. Malaysia has no asylum system, and treats refugees as illegal immigrants," it added.
The Rohingya Muslims originate from the Arakan state in western Burma but are denied citizenship rights by the Burmese military regime, a close political and economic ally of the Mahathir regime. The Rohingyas are thus denied the right to travel outside or within Burma, and refused education opportunities and jobs.
When persecution by the Burmese junta mounted during the early 90s, millions of Rohingyas were displaced, most fleeing across the border to Bangladesh but tens of thousands also making their way into Malaysia, little knowing the Malaysian regime’s treatment of immigrants.
HRW also accuses the UNHCR office in Kuala Lumpur of not putting enough efforts to help Rohingya refugees. It notes that out of nearly 1,600 applications by Rohingya for refugee status in 1999, only 43 were granted, suggesting that the UN body is "systematically underestimating the dangers Rohingya face if forced back to Burma."
The report is yet another ****ing indictment of Malaysia’s oppressive immigration policies and its treatment of Muslim refugees and immigrants. Earlier this year, Malaysians were treated to shocking testimonies in court by former Bangladeshi immigrants who related how they were sexually and physically tortured by police and immigration officials while in detention at filthy immigration "depots". Several witnesses have also related how they were forced to perform sexual acts on fellow detainees and denied proper food and clothing. They said they were kept in crowded mosquito-infested cells with foul toilets and forced to stare into the sun.
The witnesses were testifying at the case of Irene Fernandez, director of a women’s non-governmental organisation called Tenaganita ("Women’s Power"). She is facing charges of "malicious publication of false news". Her "crime" was releasing a memorandum entitled "Abuse, Torture and Dehumanised Treatment of Migrant Workers at Detention Camps" in 1995, alleging mistreatment of Bangladeshi detainees at immigration camps.
Malaysia’s abuses of detainees have largely been out of the sight of domestic and international monitors. When such abuses are brought to light, the Malaysian regime routinely responds by attacking the sources of information rather than addressing the problems. The latest report contains several individual cases of abuse based on HRW’s interviews with refugees. It accuses Malaysian police of resorting to extortion and bribery to secure the release of arrested immigrants.
The report also found that the Rohingya, as a "vulnerable group", are an easy target for corrupt policemen. One refugee interviewed said: "The police are waiting when I go to work and they do not ask for any documents, only bribes — about RM10 (about US$2.50). He added that he has lost count of how many times the police have extorted money from him.
http://www.muslimedia.com/ARCHIVES/sea00/my-rohing.htm