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| Even in Safety of Malaysia, Rohingya Migrants Face Bleak Prospects | Even in Safety of Malaysia, Rohingya Migrants Face Bleak Prospects |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| AMPANG, Malaysia — For refugees from Myanmar who have reached Malaysia, life may well be better than the grim marginalization and persecution they fled. But even here, poverty and exclusion threaten to rob them of a voice in determining their own future. | |
| The boatloads of Rohingya migrants who landed here desperate and exhausted last month join some 75,000 Rohingya who made their way to Malaysia years and even decades before. Judging by the hardships their forerunners face, it will be difficult for the latest wave either to establish a secure foothold or to achieve resettlement elsewhere. | The boatloads of Rohingya migrants who landed here desperate and exhausted last month join some 75,000 Rohingya who made their way to Malaysia years and even decades before. Judging by the hardships their forerunners face, it will be difficult for the latest wave either to establish a secure foothold or to achieve resettlement elsewhere. |
| “From a country, we have become stateless, and as refugees, we have become stateless again,” said Mohammed Noor, the managing director of Rohingya Vision TV, an online news service based in Kuala Lumpur, the Malaysian capital. “We’re a floating people now, floating everywhere without any hope, without any papers.” | “From a country, we have become stateless, and as refugees, we have become stateless again,” said Mohammed Noor, the managing director of Rohingya Vision TV, an online news service based in Kuala Lumpur, the Malaysian capital. “We’re a floating people now, floating everywhere without any hope, without any papers.” |
| Prayers and speeches here on Wednesday marked the third anniversary of the bloodshed in Myanmar that started the latest exodus, but in the larger regional debate over their future, the Rohingya have largely been left as muted bystanders. | Prayers and speeches here on Wednesday marked the third anniversary of the bloodshed in Myanmar that started the latest exodus, but in the larger regional debate over their future, the Rohingya have largely been left as muted bystanders. |
| In Malaysia, their status as refugees and unregistered migrants bars them from sending their children to government schools, meaning many receive little or no education. They are also barred from holding jobs legally, but necessity compels most of the men to find menial off-the-books labor. | In Malaysia, their status as refugees and unregistered migrants bars them from sending their children to government schools, meaning many receive little or no education. They are also barred from holding jobs legally, but necessity compels most of the men to find menial off-the-books labor. |
| “Decades of policies in Myanmar have left many Rohingya illiterate and impoverished, and that’s hard to shake off as refugees,” said Gerhard Hoffstaedter, an anthropologist from the University of Queensland in Australia who studies the Rohingya and other refugee groups in Malaysia. | “Decades of policies in Myanmar have left many Rohingya illiterate and impoverished, and that’s hard to shake off as refugees,” said Gerhard Hoffstaedter, an anthropologist from the University of Queensland in Australia who studies the Rohingya and other refugee groups in Malaysia. |
| Echoing the views of other experts and Rohingya leaders and organizers in Malaysia, Dr. Hoffstaedter said that many of the refugees’ problems were partly rooted in their own society. | Echoing the views of other experts and Rohingya leaders and organizers in Malaysia, Dr. Hoffstaedter said that many of the refugees’ problems were partly rooted in their own society. |
| The Rohingya “lack the organization and rich networks that other, more successful refugee groups can tap,” he said. He noted that the Chin, another migrant group from Myanmar, have been more successful at setting up schools and at securing resettlement in third countries, especially the United States. | The Rohingya “lack the organization and rich networks that other, more successful refugee groups can tap,” he said. He noted that the Chin, another migrant group from Myanmar, have been more successful at setting up schools and at securing resettlement in third countries, especially the United States. |
| “The Rohingya have an amazing capacity for suffering, but they’ve been given so few stories of success,” he said. | “The Rohingya have an amazing capacity for suffering, but they’ve been given so few stories of success,” he said. |
| Even so, compared with the bamboo shacks and fetid detention camps they left behind, Malaysia offers at least some modicum of hope and opportunity, if not the kinder reception, decent jobs and schools, and swift resettlement that many hoped for. | Even so, compared with the bamboo shacks and fetid detention camps they left behind, Malaysia offers at least some modicum of hope and opportunity, if not the kinder reception, decent jobs and schools, and swift resettlement that many hoped for. |
| The Rohingya have managed to establish enclaves in several neighborhoods on the edges of Kuala Lumpur, the capital, living in concrete housing blocks and shopping in open-air markets. Here in the Ampang district, tens of thousands of Rohingya crowd into apartments and dilapidated houses that often hold several families each. | The Rohingya have managed to establish enclaves in several neighborhoods on the edges of Kuala Lumpur, the capital, living in concrete housing blocks and shopping in open-air markets. Here in the Ampang district, tens of thousands of Rohingya crowd into apartments and dilapidated houses that often hold several families each. |
| Many Rohingya men find occasional work on construction sites or in cheap restaurants in the city, and some women work in stalls and shops. In the Selayang neighborhood, hundreds of Rohingya stall holders sell fruit and vegetables, mixing with other poor migrants, including many from Myanmar. | Many Rohingya men find occasional work on construction sites or in cheap restaurants in the city, and some women work in stalls and shops. In the Selayang neighborhood, hundreds of Rohingya stall holders sell fruit and vegetables, mixing with other poor migrants, including many from Myanmar. |
| “We are not rich people, but this is better than what we left behind,” said Mohammed Ayub, a Rohingya who has lived in Malaysia for three years and runs a tailor shop in Taman Muda on the edge of Kuala Lumpur. “What is most important is that we have some security here. We don’t have much, but we have some security.” | “We are not rich people, but this is better than what we left behind,” said Mohammed Ayub, a Rohingya who has lived in Malaysia for three years and runs a tailor shop in Taman Muda on the edge of Kuala Lumpur. “What is most important is that we have some security here. We don’t have much, but we have some security.” |
| Most pressing of all, many migrants said they faced a long, uncertain wait for the United Nations refugee agency office in Kuala Lumpur to accredit them as refugees, which would entitle them to a precious identity card that many see as their best protection against detention or abuse by officials and the police. | Most pressing of all, many migrants said they faced a long, uncertain wait for the United Nations refugee agency office in Kuala Lumpur to accredit them as refugees, which would entitle them to a precious identity card that many see as their best protection against detention or abuse by officials and the police. |
| “It’s almost impossible to get the U.N. card,” said Ambiya Kadahusan, a 21-year-old Rohingya who said she applied nearly a year ago and had yet to receive a response. “Without a card, we feel it’s unsafe to go out and look for work, or even visit friends. | |
| “The police check: ‘Where are you from? Are you a Bangladeshi worker?’ And sometimes you have to pay some money to be let go.” | “The police check: ‘Where are you from? Are you a Bangladeshi worker?’ And sometimes you have to pay some money to be let go.” |
| Recent arrivals often turn to the Rohingya Society in Malaysia, which supplies them with papers listing their names, birth dates and backgrounds. The society also issues semblances of official documents like marriage certificates and divorce papers that migrants cannot get from the Malaysian government. | Recent arrivals often turn to the Rohingya Society in Malaysia, which supplies them with papers listing their names, birth dates and backgrounds. The society also issues semblances of official documents like marriage certificates and divorce papers that migrants cannot get from the Malaysian government. |
| The Rohingya have also tried to overcome their hardships by establishing rudimentary schools; by helping one another find work; and by joining organizations that provide services, advice and a sense of solidarity. | The Rohingya have also tried to overcome their hardships by establishing rudimentary schools; by helping one another find work; and by joining organizations that provide services, advice and a sense of solidarity. |
| “The Rohingya are actively employing strategies of community self-protection,” said Matthew Smith, an executive director of Fortify Rights, an organization based in Bangkok that monitors refugee conditions in the region. “The government of Malaysia is not providing adequate protection, and so they have to draw more on their own resources.” | “The Rohingya are actively employing strategies of community self-protection,” said Matthew Smith, an executive director of Fortify Rights, an organization based in Bangkok that monitors refugee conditions in the region. “The government of Malaysia is not providing adequate protection, and so they have to draw more on their own resources.” |
| Those resources are limited by the migrants’ poverty and by the desperate needs of the recent arrivals. | Those resources are limited by the migrants’ poverty and by the desperate needs of the recent arrivals. |
| The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said it was supporting 31 “learning centers” across Malaysia for Rohingya children, and other schools operate without United Nations support. But Abdul Ghani, the president of the Myanmar Ethnic Rohingyas Human Rights Organization Malaysia, said that only a small fraction of Rohingya children in Malaysia received a steady education. | The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said it was supporting 31 “learning centers” across Malaysia for Rohingya children, and other schools operate without United Nations support. But Abdul Ghani, the president of the Myanmar Ethnic Rohingyas Human Rights Organization Malaysia, said that only a small fraction of Rohingya children in Malaysia received a steady education. |
| Access to medical care can be another problem. “I try to help these people, because I have also suffered,” said Ismail Ahmad, a Rohingya practitioner of traditional medicine who fled Myanmar in 2007 and said he was helping about 60 migrants, many of them recent arrivals. “But we don’t have much money for medicine or food, so often there is not much we can do.” | Access to medical care can be another problem. “I try to help these people, because I have also suffered,” said Ismail Ahmad, a Rohingya practitioner of traditional medicine who fled Myanmar in 2007 and said he was helping about 60 migrants, many of them recent arrivals. “But we don’t have much money for medicine or food, so often there is not much we can do.” |
| Mr. Ahmad showed a poultice of herbs wrapped in cloth and tied around a warm brick, which he used to treat paralysis and cramps that migrants suffer after long sea voyages. | Mr. Ahmad showed a poultice of herbs wrapped in cloth and tied around a warm brick, which he used to treat paralysis and cramps that migrants suffer after long sea voyages. |
| “Sometimes they have lived for two or three months in the hold, and so they cannot walk by themselves,” he said. “But this is the best treatment we can offer.” | “Sometimes they have lived for two or three months in the hold, and so they cannot walk by themselves,” he said. “But this is the best treatment we can offer.” |
| Many Rohingya believe that their circumstances here are part of an elaborate plot by the Myanmar government to keep them weak and stigmatized, even in exile. Myanmar, an overwhelmingly Buddhist country, considers the Rohingya illegitimate Muslim intruders from what is now Bangladesh, and in 1982 it stripped many Rohingya of citizenship. | Many Rohingya believe that their circumstances here are part of an elaborate plot by the Myanmar government to keep them weak and stigmatized, even in exile. Myanmar, an overwhelmingly Buddhist country, considers the Rohingya illegitimate Muslim intruders from what is now Bangladesh, and in 1982 it stripped many Rohingya of citizenship. |
| About 200 men gathered in a spare concrete hall in Ampang on Wednesday for the anniversary of the killing of 10 Rohingya by villagers in Rakhine State in western Myanmar, after three Rohingya were accused of raping and murdering a Buddhist woman. The violence signaled the start of a wave of persecution that has prompted hundreds of thousands to flee the country. | About 200 men gathered in a spare concrete hall in Ampang on Wednesday for the anniversary of the killing of 10 Rohingya by villagers in Rakhine State in western Myanmar, after three Rohingya were accused of raping and murdering a Buddhist woman. The violence signaled the start of a wave of persecution that has prompted hundreds of thousands to flee the country. |
| The gathering at the hall was a rare display of collective political assertion by the Rohingya in Malaysia, many of whom wore red T-shirts proclaiming their ethnicity. | The gathering at the hall was a rare display of collective political assertion by the Rohingya in Malaysia, many of whom wore red T-shirts proclaiming their ethnicity. |
| Noting that the hall was only half full, Faridullah bin Dudumiya, a Muslim cleric who has lived as a refugee here for 25 years, said he was both proud and a little discouraged. “It’s not often we’re acting as a community,” Mr. Faridullah, 47, said. “But it seems our voice is still not strong enough, even on this day.” | Noting that the hall was only half full, Faridullah bin Dudumiya, a Muslim cleric who has lived as a refugee here for 25 years, said he was both proud and a little discouraged. “It’s not often we’re acting as a community,” Mr. Faridullah, 47, said. “But it seems our voice is still not strong enough, even on this day.” |
| “It’s difficult,” he added. “We are illegal people.” | “It’s difficult,” he added. “We are illegal people.” |