Sunday, May 23, 2010

Rohingyas Want Malaysian Government To Exclude Them From Amnesty Plan

KUALA LUMPUR, May 23 (Bernama) -- A group of Rohingyas on Sunday appealed to the government to exclude them from the upcoming amnesty programme for undocumented foreigners in the country, since they were registered with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR).

Myanmar Ethnic Rohingyas Human Rights Organisation Malaysia (MERHROM) president Zafar Ahmad Abdul Ghani said during the amnesty programme in 2002 and the last in 2004, many Rohningyas who were registered with the UNHCR were arrested, detained, charged and deported to the Malaysia-Thailand border.

"We hope this will not happen again to the refugees as we are not in the same category with the undocumented migrants," he said in a statement issued on Sunday.

Zafar Ahmad was commenting on the statement made by Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin on Thursday that the government proposed to grant amnesty to illegal foreign workers after the biometric identification system had been fine tuned for implementation.

"We are also worried what will happen to us after the amnesty period as there will be a mass crackdown on undocumented migrants," he said.

He also appealed to the government to allow the refugees to work while waiting for the UNHCR to find a durable solution for them.

-- BERNAMA

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