Arakanese Nationalism and the Struggle for National Self
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Political Prisoners are among 14,600 released
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Belantik Camp – A Tale from Malaysia
February15, 2011
Former Inmate of Belantik Camp
I would like to report you about the ethnic people of Burma who have been suffering from the violation of fundamental human rights in the government detention centers of Malaysia. In the dark corners of Malaysia, the struggle and anguish of the detainees continue even after their judicial sentence expires.
Department of Immigration (Malaysia) used to say that the detainees were “released” at the border with Thailand after serving their full sentence and staying in the immigration camps for a short period of time. Actually, the corrupted Immigration officials of Malaysia did not”release” but sell them to human traffickers like commercial goods. In order to be freed from the hands of traffickers, they had to pay between 2000 and 2500 ringgits. Some of them managed to collect that amount of money on time from their friends and relatives while some do not. Those who could not afford to pay were resold again to Indonesian fishing boats through human trafficking networks. Along the way, some of them lost their life due to the excessive beating and torture by the thugs who were hired by the human traffickers. (Read More)
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Can We Resolve Political Crisis in Burma?
February 15, 2011
Burma, officially known as Myanmar, has an abundance of natural resources. It is the largest country on the mainland of Southeast Asia, bordering the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal, between Bangladesh and Thailand. It has a total area of 261,969 sq mi (678,500 sq km) and land boundaries of 5,876 km (Bangladesh and India in the west, with borders of 193 km and 1,463 km respectively). China, Thailand and Laos are also neighbors of Burma in the east, with borders of 2,185 km, 1,800 km, and 235 km respectively. Burma is also famous for its diverse ethnicities. In fact, there are about 135 ethnic nationalities residing in Burma. (Read More)
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2011 UNHCR country operations profile – Malaysia
Working environment
The context
Malaysia hosts some 90,000 refugees and asylum-seekers, of whom 92 percent are from Myanmar. Other significant refugee populations in the country originate from Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia and Sri Lanka. The number of refugees and asylum-seekers has doubled since the end of 2008 as a result of large-scale registration of asylum-seekers, many of whom had been in the country for years.
Malaysia is not party to the 1951 Refugee Convention or its Protocol. There is currently no legislative or administrative framework for dealing with refugees. This challenging protection environment makes it difficult for UNHCR to fulfil its mandate in the country, which has some 3 million migrants, 1.5 million of whom are considered undocumented migrants. (Read More)
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Report on Indian Immigration
Govt. of Burma, Department of Commerce and Industry
7/15/1939
By resolution of July 15th, 1939, the Government of Burma appointed a Commission of Inquiry to examine the question of Indian immigration into Burma. (Read More)
Alliance of Arakan Refugees 