U.S. Committee for Refugees World Refugee Survey 1997 - Malaysia
- Document source:
-
Date:
1 January 1997
During 1996, all but about 20 of the more than 4,300 Vietnamese who were in Malaysia at the beginning of 1996 repatriated to Vietnam. Malaysia continued to host 5,000 Burmese Rohingya refugees, some 200 refugees of other nationalities, and an unknown number of Indonesian Achehnese in refugee-like circumstances. The Malaysian authorities also permitted 258 Bosnian Muslims to resettle in Malaysia during the year. Vietnamese Malaysia was perhaps the most resolute of the Southeast Asian first-asylum countries in pursuing the repatriation of Vietnamese boat people. During the year, approximately 3,450 screened-out (determined not to be refugees) Vietnamese returned home under the auspices of UNHCR's voluntary repatriation program. The Malaysian authorities returned another 850 Vietnamese involuntarily through the Orderly Return Program (ORP). At the end of the year, only some 20 Vietnamese remained in Malaysia, of whom most were either screened-in refugees awaiting resettlement or persons whose nationality was in dispute. Malaysia did not achieve the repatriation of the remaining Vietnamese population without incident or difficulty. In January, a number of Vietnamese rioted at the Sungei Besi camp in Kuala Lumpur, where all the Vietnamese were housed. One Vietnamese was killed and 23 people were injured when refugees burned down two housing units to protest a police search of the camp for weapons. In February, the Malaysian and Vietnamese governments reached an agreement to speed up the repatriation process by arranging for boat people to be returned to Vietnam by ship. Hanoi also agreed to hasten the process of approving persons for repatriation. Following UNHCR's confirmation in March that it would stop financing all camps for Vietnamese in Southeast Asia in June, Malaysia stepped up its efforts to repatriate all remaining boat people. Between April and June, the Malaysian authorities returned 839 Vietnamese through the ORP. Malaysia closed Sungei Besi on June 25, five days before UNHCR was due to terminate assistance. Between 1975 and 1997, Malaysia provided temporary refuge to nearly 255,000 Vietnamese boat people, some 248,000 of whom were resettled in third countries, primarily the United States. The remainder returned to Vietnam. Achehnese Thousands of Achehnese from the Indonesian island of Sumatra lived in Malaysia in refugee-like circumstances. They had gone there beginning in the early 1990s at least in part to escape human rights abuses by the Indonesian authorities and fighting between the Indonesian military and insurgents seeking independence for Acheh. Malaysia did not recognize the Achehnese as refugees and has repeatedly deported some to Indonesia. According to UNHCR, 18 Achehnese petitioned the agency for recognition as refugees during 1996, but UNHCR did not consider any to qualify. On December 24, more than 50 Achehnese asylum seekers rioted at the Langkap camp for illegal immigrants in northern Malaysia to protest against their impending deportation to Indonesia. The following day, 40 Achehnese entered and sought asylum in the embassies of the United States, France, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Great Britain, and Italy in Kuala Lumpur. They sought political asylum there, claiming that they had been tortured by the Indonesian army because of their ties to the separatist Acheh Merdeka (Free Acheh) Movement, and that they would be persecuted if returned to Indonesia. The U.S., French, British, and Italian embassies allowed Malaysian police to enter their premises and forcibly remove the Achehnese. The Malaysian authorities detained them and, at year's end, indicated that they planned to return them to Indonesia. Eight asylum seekers remained in the Dutch and Swiss embassies.
Disclaimer:
This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.