Despair, then death: The Rohingya riddle

The deaths of two teenagers held for seven months at Ranong detention centre highlight the inadequacies of government policies and facilities to deal with boat people

by: Piyaporn Wongruang

(Bangkok Post) -They say that despair can kill a man, and so it did with two teenage Rohingya held in the Ranong detention centre for seven months. Two doctors who treated the detainees at the centre said the pair basically starved themselves to death after becoming dispirited and refusing to eat or exercise. The official reason for the two teenagers' deaths is "natural causes" caused by cardiac arrest.

WAITING: Rohingya refugees at the immigration detention centre in Bangkok.

"Their minds were just so sick that they lost enthusiasm for everything," said one of the doctors based at the centre who preferred to remain anonymous. "They refused to take food and they refused to move around. They told me that they were desperate and didn't know what to do with their lives any more. They told me that it's better to kill them than to detain them like this."

The deaths go to the heart of Thailand's problems dealing with illegal immigrants and refugees, and the inadequacy of current policies and facilities to deal with the growing number of cases.

Abdul Salam, 18, died on June 30 on the way to Ranong Hospital. Hammatula, 15, was found dead in the detention centre at 4am on Aug 13, a day after a medical check by one of the doctors. The two were among 78 ethnic Muslim Rohingya boat people fleeing Burma who were intercepted by the navy near Surin Island on Jan 26, and sent to the centre a few days later.

Abdul's and Hammatula's bodies were covered in wounds, after allegedly being tortured by the Burmese military during their boat trip, according to the doctor at the centre. The medical team treated the teenagers' wounds in the first few months of their detention, but the pair were overwhelmed by a sense of hopelessness. According to the same doctor, they gradually became fatigued, hardly moving and sitting or lying down most of the time.

READ MORE---> Despair, then death: The Rohingya riddle...

Myanmar migrants stuck in Malaysia detention camps

By JULIA ZAPPEI

SEPANG, Malaysia (SF Gate-AP) --A growing number of immigrants from Myanmar are ending up stuck, often for months, in crowded detention centers in Malaysia designed to hold people for only a few weeks.

Almost 2,800 Myanmarese were detained at camps in July, more than double the 1,200 in January, partly because of a crackdown on human trafficking, a step-up in raids and a slow economy that leaves the migrants without jobs. People from Myanmar, a desperately poor country with a military junta, are now the biggest group among the 7,000 foreigners at detention centers in Malaysia.

At a center near the Kuala Lumpur International Airport, some 120 men sat in neat rows on the floor. Many had their legs drawn to their chests, and all were barefoot. There was not enough space and not enough bedding.

"There is no soap for taking a shower, nothing. They don't give us anything," said Kyaw Zin Lin, 23, who said he fled to avoid being drafted into the Myanmar army. "Every day we eat the food just to survive. ... They treat us like animals."

"It's very difficult to stay here," said Aung Kuh The, a pale 26-year-old. "We have got a lot of problems. Some people, you know, we want to see the doctor but we don't have the chance."

One reason for the rise in detainees is a crackdown on trafficking. A report published in April by the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations cited firsthand accounts of Myanmarese who said immigration officers turned them over to traffickers.

That practice has all but stopped, Myanmar community leaders in Malaysia say.

Now, though, the Myanmarese are trapped in detention. The Myanmar embassy often takes six months to register its citizens for deportation and charges them 620 ringgit ($180), much more than neighboring Indonesia. By contrast, detainees from other countries are typically deported within a week.

Calls to the Myanmar embassy were repeatedly put on hold and then unanswered.

About half the Myanmarese — those fleeing persecution — may qualify for U.N. refugee status, but that process takes up to four months. The others are economic migrants. Some 140,000 Myanmarese work in Malaysia, but foreign workers who are laid off lose the right to stay.

Some Myanmarese have spent more than six months in crowded, dirty detention centers. One man, whose brother was in detention for four months, said he would rather be sold to traffickers from whom he could buy his freedom.

"I prefer to be trafficked," said the man, who would only be identified by his nickname, Ryan, to protect his relatives in Myanmar. "I don't mind paying 2,000 ringgit ($570)."

Five of Malaysia's 13 detention centers are overcrowded; four of the five have large Myanmarese populations, according to the immigration department. Journalists from The Associated Press accompanied the human rights group Amnesty International on a rare visit recently to three detention centers just south of Kuala Lumpur, the country's biggest city.

At the Lenggeng Detention Depot, 1,400 people are crammed into dormitories meant for 1,200. Of them about 300 are from Myanmar.

Hundreds of men jostle each other for room in the bare dormitories. One sleeps on a stone ledge in a bathroom. Each dormitory is fenced by wire mesh and barbed wire, giving detainees just a few meters (feet) of space for walking.

"The detention centers we saw fell short of international standards in many respects, as the immigration authorities themselves acknowledge," said Michael Bochenek of Amnesty International. "It's a facility of such size that infectious diseases are communicated readily."

Saw Pho Tun, a refugee community leader, said some immigration officers have singled out Myanmarese detainees for rough treatment, beating them and not allowing them medical assistance. Immigration officials deny beating detainees and say everyone has access to medical care.

On July 1, detainees at another center flung their food trays and damaged some of the mesh fence. Immigration officials blamed the riot on frustration about having to stay so long, but detainees say they rioted because they were afraid of abuse.

Most of the blocks have now been shut for repairs, so more than 1,000 detainees — including 700 from Myanmar — were transferred ot other already crowded centers.

Abdul Rahman Othman, the director general of the Immigration Department, said he was taking steps to prevent his officers from being "entangled" in trafficking syndicates. He said officers would be rotated to different posts every three years and have a buddy system to supervise each other.

"Ninety-nine percent of us in immigration are good people," he said, denying the problem is widespread.

Police arrested five officers on trafficking allegations last month. They say their investigations revealed immigration officials took Myanmar immigrants to the Thai border and sold them for up to 600 ringgit ($170) to traffickers. The traffickers then told the migrants to pay 2,000 ringgit ($570) for their freedom, or they would be forced to work in the fishing industry, police said.

Myanmar community leaders said women who failed to pay were sold into prostitution.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/08/15/international/i101830D28.DTL#ixzz0OIp3pVF1

READ MORE---> Myanmar migrants stuck in Malaysia detention camps...

Ministry orders checks on “black listed” tourists

by Nem Davies

New Delhi (Mizzima) – Tour agencies have been directed by Burma’s Ministry of Hotel and Tourism to check tourists applying for ‘Arrival Visa’ with the list of people banned from entering the country.

“The people banned are among those ‘black listed’ and the list is with the Immigration Department,” Ohn Myint, Deputy Director at Ministry of Hotel and Tourism in Naypyitaw, told Mizzima.

The notice states that persons included in the ‘black list’ will not be issued ‘Arrival Visa’. Tour agencies as such are required to submit one of three forms to the Immigration Department in Rangoon six days in advance, in order to provide time for checking the list.

A director of a popular tour agency in Rangoon said the screening of ‘Arrival Visa’ is being done mainly to check people involved in politics.

“We have to submit the bio-data of tourists, who apply for ‘Arrival Visa’ to the Immigration Department. They [immigration] mainly check tourist’s into politics. The “black list” is with them and it is confidential,” the director told Mizzima.

Though tourists can apply for normal visas at respective Burmese embassies abroad, it is mandatory for tourists, who face time limits in applying for normal visas, to connect with tour agencies in Burma to apply for the ‘Arrival Visa’.

“For people, who do not have time to obtain a normal visa, authorities issue ‘Arrival Visa’ but they need to get in touch with tour companies before they come. Every tour agent takes care of his guests,” a director at another tour agency in Rangoon told Mizzima.

The ministry’s order on Thursday states that tour agents can enquire whether the list of their guests has been cleared by the Immigration Department. They have no right to question the decision of the Immigration rejecting a guest.

The order also said that the ‘Arrival Visa’ system has been introduced in order to make travelling to Burma easier and to provide maximum service to tourists. It is also to check that tour companies do not charge tourists extra for their services and prevent the companies from evading tax payment to the government, which is seven per cent.

“Tour agencies must understand that a country has the right to reject or welcome particular tourists, without giving any reason,” the order adds.

READ MORE---> Ministry orders checks on “black listed” tourists...

Burmese Muslims attack government office

(DVB)–Around 40 Muslims in western Burma were detained for allegedly ransacking a local immigration office after officials there assaulted a local Muslim man for not paying a fine.

A resident in Arakan state’s Kyauk Ni Maw village said the dispute started after a local Muslim man who returned from travelling refused to pay a fine for exceeding stay outside of the village as shown in his travel permit.

Muslims in Arakan state are required to get a document known as the Form-4 from government immigration if they want to travel outside of their region.

“He said he couldn’t pay the money they asked for as he had already paid a lot acquiring the [permission] document and the officials [at the immigration office] beat him up,” said the village resident, adding that he was left with a broken arm and vomiting blood.”

News on the attack quickly spread to Kyauk Ni Maw village where 75 percent of the population are Muslim. Some local villagers, including the man’s relatives, were enraged.

“They went to the immigration office and beat up the people who beat up the man. They also tore down the office building and broke some flag poles,” he said.

Following the incident, authorities arrested around 40 people, including some who were not involved, the villager said, and detained them in nearby Yanbyal township jail.

The detainees are due to appear in court on 10 August where they will face charges for breaching peace.

“They just arrested random people, but all Muslim, in the village without identifying who was involved in the attack,” said the villager. “Some people had already fled in fear of getting arrested in connection with the case.”

Muslims living in Burma have long been marginalized by the military government.

Three prominent ‘anti-Muslim’ riots have erupted in Burma in the past 12 years following heightened tension between Muslims and Buddhists.

Their situation was thrown into the spotlight earlier this year when around 1000 Rohingya refugees washed up in boats on Thailand’s shores, only to be towed back out to sea and set adrift by Thai authorities.

The Rohingya, who are a minority Muslim population, are not recognized by the Burmese government and suffer frequent discrimination due to their lack of legal status.

Reporting by Thurein Soe

READ MORE---> Burmese Muslims attack government office...

Army Directorate restricts entry of Chinese travellers

by Myo Gyi

Ruili (Mizzima) – As of now Chinese travelers wanting to visit Burma through the border entry points must get prior approval of the Chief of Staff (Army) Office.

The new rule has come into effect from July 16 for Chinese travellers to Burma.

“It is mandatory from now on for Chinese tourists to send the advisory letter to the Chief of Staff (Army) Office before entering Burma. Their tour guide must escort them to Lashio first. If the persons in the list do not match with the persons at the exit point and someone is missing, the guide will be responsible for the missing person(s) and he or she will be interrogated. The guide must take full responsibility for all his guests,” a person close to Chinese traders told Mizzima.

An official of the Mya Padamya Travel Agency in Muse and a resident from Jie Gong, which is near the Sino-Burma border gate, confirmed the new immigration rules.

Chinese tourists have to first apply for approval from the CS (Army) office at Naypyitaw through the Immigration Department on the Sino-Burma border. They can enter Burma only after getting approval from the CS (Army) Office. Previously they could enter Burma easily with the help of travel agencies.

The restriction on visits by Chinese travellers with tour visas is because of visits by the tourists to restricted areas, the person close to Chinese traders said.

“Earlier, they visited Mandalay with ordinary travel permits. Then they visited restricted areas such as Pha Kant and the gold mines. Now the government has restricted their movement inside Burma,” he said.

Eyewitnesses on the border, however, said Chinese jade traders are still entering Burma as they did earlier.

Those who wish to visit Burma for other purposes need invitation letters from their concerned companies and departments.

“If they receive invitation letters from concerned departments for specific purposes such as visiting mining sites, exploratory visits, checking plots owned by their company, economic seminars, then they can get entry permits as either individuals or as part of a package tour. Such visitors must apply for visa at the Burmese embassies. As for border visits, these formalities are not needed. Tourism companies from both countries can arrange it themselves,” he added.

Moreover, illegal import of Chinese goods has been banned since early this month.

READ MORE---> Army Directorate restricts entry of Chinese travellers...

Tourists in Burma not tested for H1N1

(DVB)–The thousands of tourists entering Burma each day across the Thai-Burma border are not being adequately checked for the A/H1N1 swine flu virus, say locals living near to border checkpoints.

Last month Burma confirmed its first case of A/H1N1, that of a 13-year-old girl who was diagnosed with the illness upon returning from Singapore.

According to state-run media in Burma, the girl has now recovered and was discharged from hospital on Thursday.

A hotel employee working on Thahtay Kyun island in the Andaman Sea south of Burma’s Tenasserim division said the casino receives about 150 visitors from Thailand each day.

However the nearby Burmese immigration checkpoint in Kawthaung is doing nothing to control the spread of the A/H1N1 virus, he said.

“The immigration in Kawthaung only checks for documents from the visitors but they don’t do anything to check for the influenza…apart from some medical assistants in the town briefly checking people coming in from [nearby] Ranong,” he said.

The lack of preventative measures were causing concern, he said, given the number of people in Thailand who have been diagnosed with the virus.

A Burmese business owner in Thai border town of Mae Sai, across from Tachilek town in Shan state, said that [Burmese] medical assistants sitting at the border checkpoints are only assessing those who looked sick.

“They do check people who look nauseous but not everyone,” he said.

A local in the Burmese border town of Myawaddy in Karen state, across from Mae Sot in Thailand, said there was also little change from the normal protocol of inspecting at the checkpoint there.

Reporting by Thurein Soe

READ MORE---> Tourists in Burma not tested for H1N1...

Bangladesh PM inquires about Rohingya infiltration

Dhaka (Narinjara): The Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in a cabinet meeting at the Secretariat on Monday made inquiries from the Home Ministry about the contentious issue of Rohingya infiltration into Bangladesh, said an official report.

The Bangladesh premier made inquiries while she was chairing the cabinet meeting yesterday.

Home Ministry officials told her at the meeting that the infiltration is creating law and order problems in some districts bordering Burma.

The report said that Hasina wanted details about infiltration by Rohingyas into Bangladesh.

The Bangladesh government has directed the BDR, law enforcement agencies and district administration to initiate tough action to stop infiltration, the report said quoting an authorized official from the Home Ministry.

The Home Ministry also said it has directed the administration to take steps to push back infiltrators.

Many Burmese Muslims, widely known as Rohingya, from Arakan state, have been intruding into Bangladesh in recent months and many were reportedly pushed back to Burma.

After the information spread through the media, the Bangladesh Prime Minister made inquiries about the issue from concerned authorities of the Home Ministry.

At the cabinet meeting, the PM also directed the concerned ministries to take immediate steps to link Bangladesh with the Asian Highway Network (AHN) via Burma.

READ MORE---> Bangladesh PM inquires about Rohingya infiltration...

Color-coded employment cards for migrant workers issued

By Hseng Khio Fah

Thai labor ministry has recently prescribed color-coded employment cards under the forthcoming registration for workers from Burma, Laos and Cambodia to differentiate the sort of their works, according to the daily Thai newspaper Khomchadleuk reported last week.

Colors described were:

• Blue card will stand for fisheries
• Green card – agriculture
• Yellow card - construction
• Orange card - seafood factories
• Gray card - domestic work
• Pink card – general

Workers holding pink cards are available to get access to 19 types of work, the report said.

Even though migrant workers holding new registration cards will be allowed to work legally, they will be only appointed after Thai citizens fail to apply. But they will have the right to get access to the basic rights as Thai citizens.

On 2 June, Alien Employment Administration meeting (Kaw Raw Phaw) made up a new policy that job owners must give priority to Thai citizens allowing them 7 days to apply if there is a job vacancy.

The meeting also reached a decision to offer a new round of labor registration to new migrant workers and existing workers who previously lacked legal status.

“People who entered the country after the decision was made will not be allowed to apply for the registration. They will also be arrested and sent back,” labor minister Paitoon Kaewthong was quoted in the report.

During the registration period, border checkpoints would be strongly tightened to stop outsiders from coming to “seize the opportunity.”

He also said all work permit cards will be expired on 28 February 2010. After that employers must ask their workers to apply for passport document.

In Chiangmai province, the registration for the new workers will start from 1 July, a member of a right group said.

Bosses who are willing to appoint new workers can ask for quota at the Employment Department office, she said.

Now, workers holding current permits have been called upon to apply for another year of extension since early June. They were also required to apply for the nationality verification process at same time, according to a worker who was also required to submit the form.

People who pass the process of the nationality verification by their country will be allowed to work for another 2 years.

According to the report, about 500,000 migrant workers have registered with the labor ministry up to now. There are at least 2 million legal and illegal migrant workers in Thailand.

READ MORE---> Color-coded employment cards for migrant workers issued...

The Burmese factor in Thai-Sino relations

REGIONAL PERSPECTIVE

By Kavi Chongkittavorn

The Nation - WHILE THE TRIAL of Aung San Suu Kyi was delayed, Burma has been acting with alacrity in the past few days with a two-pronged offensive - to disrupt the Thai-Burma border, and to drive a wedge in Thai-Chinese cooperation on Burma.

The attacks on the Karen National Union along the Thai-Burma border beginning last week fit in with the pattern established in the past two decades. These onslaughts will cause concern among the Thai security forces about the influx of refugees and disrupt border trade. Indeed, they were timed to create maximum chaos among Thai decision-makers. This armed offensive, part of the comprehensive Burmese national defence strategy against Thailand, has been used time and again with satisfying success due to the predictable responses of the Thai armed forces and bureaucracy.

Whenever assertive Thai diplomacy towards Burma is in the making - this time around the Abhisit government's attitude was the case in point - the porous Thai-Burmese border immediately turns into a conflict zone. Then, Rangoon's additional pressure would be placed on trade and energy sectors.

The border attacks on minority groups would follow after wide-publicity of comments made by Thai officials or politicians on the negative impact if Thai-Burmese relations were disrupted. After May 19, Rangoon did exactly that.

The Burmese junta-controlled media have been criticising Thailand both as the Asean chair and as its Western neighbour for violating the non-interference principle. None of them have ever questioned their government's commitment and compliance to the Asean Charter or being part of the grouping's collective responsibility.

Comments by Noppadol Pattama and General Sonthi Boonyaratglin last week on the Abhisit government's policy towards Burma were used to highlight the dissident views within Thai society. Indeed, they made the comments as a favour to Burma. Sonthi's views were typical and the most damaging. He had the audacity to say that if Thailand has a conflict with Burma, it will face defeat. What boggles the mind is that Sonthi, the former coup leader, is now aspiring to become prime minister.

In February, Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya urged energy-related agencies, especially the Petroleum Authority of Thailand (PTT), to review its energy policy and take a more holistic approach on Burma. The Thai energy need has increased due to continued industrialisation in the past decades, which has further deepened the country's dependence on Burma's energy and natural resources. Somehow, the reckless top echelon of the Thai energy sector is very recalcitrant due to the web of vested-interest groups to think outside the box. Rather, they prefer to be the subject of Burma's constant blackmail. Sad but true, the Stockholm syndrome is not only proliferating but firmly gripping the movers and shakers in the energy sector.

As Asean chair, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has proved to be an effective leader even when he was besieged by domestic turmoil at various regional and international outings on behalf of Asean. But on Thai-Burmese relations, he must be a thousand-fold firmer in pressing concerned agencies to cooperate with the armed forces and diplomats to come up with a long-term defence strategy on Burma. So far, Thailand does not have any centralised blueprint, most of them are piecemeal and ad hoc approaches.

The political situation in Burma will feature high on the agenda of Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya's visit to Beijing on Wednesday and a subsequent visit by Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva from June 24-26. The two nations have been consulting each other on their pariah neighbour to ascertain whether their respective positions would not undermine each other.

Thailand and China are facing a similar dilemma dealing with Burma emanating from their dependency on natural gas and resources imports and long shared common borders. China and Burma have a 2,192km border while the Thai-Burma border stretches over 2,004 km.They have been exposed to a myriad of problems, including illegal migrant workers, drugs and human trafficking. In addition, various armed minority groups are also active along the border.

In the past Burma's internal situation was a taboo in Thai-China relations. Occasionally, they took up the issue and agreed to disagree. During 2001-2006, however, Thailand's position on Burma was akin to China's - do not rock the boat. Both nations defended Burma regionally and internationally urging the international community to allow Burma to settle its own problems. They no longer walk on the Burmese side.

Given the severity of international condemnation of Suu Kyi's trial and the ongoing oppression inside Burma, both countries realise they have to work closely together to engage Burma in a more coordinated way. Otherwise, they could be targets of manipulation by Rangoon. After the Asean Charter is in force, there is more room for Beijing to express solidarity with the grouping on a broad range of issues including the situation in Burma.

The recent joint statements from the UN Security Council as well as Asean-Asem (Asia-Europe Meeting) were an affidavit of Beijing's pragmatism. Continued strong support of the Asean chair's statement on Burma has augured well with the current sentiment within the top Chinese leadership who have for years been looking for a unified Asean position on Burma that they can back and use as a rallying point. As a matter of policy, China will support the Asean collective position on Burma.

From Beijing's viewpoint, instability in neighbouring countries directly impact on its own security situation.

Currently, four out of 14 countries sharing borders with China are in perpetual crisis and chaos or luan in Chinese.

China is concerned about the possible spill-over effects of fighting against the al-Qaeda and Taleban in Pakistan and Afghanistan. With the rising tension in the Korean Peninsula in recent weeks, China is sitting near a time bomb, if it fails to convince North Korea to stand down on its nuclear missile threats.

With Beijing's growing clout in world politics so its international responsibility becomes bigger. China cannot be seen as an indifferent player. Worse of all would be the perception that China is undermining the Asean charter and the Asean chair, which happens to be Thailand, a close friend. Deep down, China would like to see stable Thai-Burma as well as Burma-Asean ties. However, under the current circumstance, China would need to play the balancing act between its own national interest and rising expectations in Asean and international community.

Abhisit on behalf of Asean must strongly appeal to China for support and impress on Burma to accommodate the grouping's concern. A stronger Asean is good for China. A stable Burma is good for both China and Asean. Then, the grouping can concentrate on its internal integration and community building. China can give its full energy and resources to its ever increasing international engagement.

Furthermore China's much-needed support would create a reservoir of goodwill within Asean - the score card Beijing might find useful in the future. After Thailand, Vietnam will assume the next Asean chair. As is well-known, Vietnam has long-standing conflicting claims with China over the resource-rich group of islands known as the Spratly and Paracels in South China Sea.

Truth be told, the reason Burma was admitted to Asean on a fast-track in 1997 was mainly due to the Asean senior officials' decision in January 1995 to check China's advance southward to the mainland Southeast Asia. Embracing Burma quickly was one measure to halt Beijing's influence by enabling the regime to be part of the regional community.

For the first time, China has to face-off with the new regional situation - coping with two pivotal neighbours - one is strategically located giving Beijing access to two oceans and numerous logistic advantages and the other is a traditional friend and concurrently the Asean chair. Soon, China will show its true colour.

READ MORE---> The Burmese factor in Thai-Sino relations...

Protection visa system leaves a family torn apart

Refugees ... Mrs Hashimi with children Zahra, Hossein and Qasseme. Inset, Amer Hashimi, who held a temporary protection visa but is now in detention in Jakarta.

A former Sydney resident has been left to languish in jail, writes Tom Allard in Jakarta.

* May 23, 2009 - SMH

LOCKED in a crowded cell at Jakarta's immigration detention centre, his life savings gone and family separated from him, Amer Hashimi has plenty of time to contemplate his misfortune.

Like many Faili Kurds from Iraq, Hashimi has experienced his share of persecution and hardship. Perhaps more heartbreaking still, he has also had a taste of a "dream life" in Australia snatched away.

The genial 43-year-old truck driver is one of many former holders of temporary protection visas who have attempted to return to Australia in the past year, making the perilous journey by boat from Indonesia for a second time.

The visa - a centrepiece of the Howard government's immigration policy - allowed refugees to stay in Australia, but barred them from bringing their immediate families to join them.

Amid a recent wave of boat people attempting to reach Australia, there have been calls for its reintroduction as a deterrent. The Opposition is considering endorsing a new type of visa that contains many of its features.

But Mr Hashimi's decade-long struggle to find a safe place for his family shows how the visa can compound misery.

"In 1999, I first come to Australia in a big boat, maybe 370 people," Mr Hashimi said during a telephone interview from his cell block. "I like this country very much. I live there more than four years, but I can't see my family for this time."

After paying a human trafficking syndicate $US2500 ($3200), Mr Hashimi could not afford to bring his wife, Nahle Abd Uan, and his three children with him. They stayed in Iran, where they had fled from Iraq.

He lived in Sydney's western suburbs, and worked six or seven days a week, sending his wife money so she could pay bribes to allow their children to attend school.

"My wife and children is having a very hard time in Iran. They only have white card, so not allowed for school, for working," he explained.

Mr Hashimi had hoped that if his refugee status was reconfirmed after three years in Australia he would get a permanent visa and be able to bring his wife and children out to live with him.

But while judged to be a genuine refugee by Australian immigration officials he was issued with a second temporary protection visa. It was a devastating blow. His family were being harassed in Iran and threatened with repatriation to Iraq, then in the grips of the US-led war to topple Saddam Hussein.

In April 2004, he was granted a travel document and returned to Iran for a reunion. He believed, incorrectly, he could return to Australia. On his way back he was imprisoned for four months in Iran, then deported to Iraq. He slipped illegally back into Iran to see his family and plead his case with consular officials at the Australian embassy in Tehran.

"They said they couldn't help me," he said.

Increasingly desperate, Mr Hashimi took his family to Indonesia to apply for refugee status with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in late 2005.

Nothing happened for two years. The Australian embassy in Jakarta refused to see him.

"It's very hard to live here and just wait. We do nothing. We just sit at home," Mrs Hashimi said. Frustrated and depressed, Mr Hashimi decided to engage a people-smuggler.

His last $US3000 and wife's gold jewellery paid for the passage. But the boat was small and overcrowded, and after setting out from Lombok in November last year its main engine failed and the passengers landed on a remote beach on the Indonesian island of Sumbawa.

"We walked for five hours to find someone," said Mr Hashimi. When they did, they were arrested by local police. Indonesian authorities considered Mr Hashimi a flight risk and have put him in detention while his family live an hour away in the hills of Puncak.

Last month, Mrs Hashimi and her children had their claim for protection as refugees finally approved.

Even so, it could still be years before they are resettled in another country. And, while the successful claim gives Mr Hashimi hope, it also fills him with anger.

"If they had given it more quicker, I would never tried to catch the boat. Now I am in jail," he said. "Please, I just want to come back to Australia."

READ MORE---> Protection visa system leaves a family torn apart...

National ID cards for Hindu community in Arakan

Sittwe (Narinjara): The Hindu community in Arakan has been issued national ID cards by the Immigration Department since the beginning of this month.

“We have received national ID cards of the colour Green. The immigration department will issue the national ID cards to all Hindu people in Arakan state. It is good for us and is better than having no documents,” a Hindu leader said.

The Burmese Immigration Department had not issued any kind of ID cards to the Hindu community in Arakan state earlier as they as they are considered foreign citizens.

“We have been living in Arakan state for a long time. My grandfather and grandmother were born here. So we are citizens of Burma. Now were getting the ID cards and it is great thing for our community,” he said.

However, the ID card issued to the Hindu community is a little different from the national ID cards issued to Rakhine and Burman.

An immigration official from Maungdaw said, “It is a green colour national ID card and it is for only citizens from foreign countries. It is a little different from the National ID cards issued to ethnic nationalities of Burma.”

In Sittwe, the capital of Arakan state, the Hindu community has received the ID cards but Hindu communities in rural areas are yet to receive the ID cards.

However, the immigration official said that the Immigration Department in Maungdaw is taking photographs of Hindu people in Maungdaw Township to issue national ID cards soon.

According to a local source, the Muslim community in Maungdaw is angry and disgruntled with the regime for neglecting to issue national ID cards to them despite having issued National ID cards to the Hindu community in Arakan.

READ MORE---> National ID cards for Hindu community in Arakan...

Immigration Authority Makes Arakanese to Burmese on National ID Cards

Ann (Narinjara): The immigration department has issued new national ID cards to Arakanese nationals in Ann Township for the 2010 election, but identified their race on the cards as Burman rather than Arakanese, said a teacher from Ann.

"Our parents are Rahkine [Arakanese], but the immigration department issued the ID cards to us with "Burman nationals" on the cards. We disagreed with such listing of Burman on our national ID cards, but the authority refused to correct the nationality listed on the cards," he said.

Local sources said many Arakanese people in Ann Township have received their ID cards with Burman listed as the race instead of Arakanese, but they have not been given the chance to refuse the incorrect ID cards.

"We requested they correct our nationalities on the ID cards but the officials told us they are very busy with making national ID cards for everyone around the township and they will be able to correct the nationalities after the 2010 election. We have no other choice so we accepted the ID cards despite our nationalities being listed as Burman," he said.

Ann Town is located in central Arakan State and has the largest army cantonment in the state stationed there. Many relatives of Burmese soldiers and officials are now living in the town along with local Arakanese people.

"The immigration department in our township has been issuing new national ID cards to Burmese settlers and local Arakanese in the township since January of this year so they can vote in the 2010 election, but all the ID cards that have been issued have Burman noted as the race," the teacher added.

Some Arakanese people have complained about the new ID cards but the government employees have remained silent on the issue in order to avoid the attention of the high authority.

A clerk from one government department said, "Burmese high officials always explain to us that Arakanese and Burman is the same nationality and the same people, regardless of what is listed on the ID card. Whether Arakanese or Burman, it is not a problem."

Most local people in the township are uneducated and innocent, so they accepted the ID cards with Burman listed as the race without any objection.

A politician from Sittwe said, "It is a Burmanisation policy against our Arakanese people and was done with intent by the authorities. The Burmese military authority wants to see the whole of Ann Township populated with Burman people, not Arakanese, because the town is strategically important to the Burmese army and the authority wants to build the town as an army city in western Burma."

READ MORE---> Immigration Authority Makes Arakanese to Burmese on National ID Cards...

Lost ID cards have led to corruption amongst Immigration authorities in Ye township

HURFOM (Rehmonnya): Same day service is available to villagers who are seeking an immediate replacement for a lost ID, but are forced to pay steep price hike.

For villagers who have lost their ID cards in Ye township, Immigrations authorities are now offering two methods for seeking a replacement. The normal option is the standard application process - the applicant answers a battery of questions, pays the fee of 3,000 Kyat, and then waits several months. The alternative now offered comes with no questions, and the card can be picked up the same day, but at a cost 20,000 Kyat. This alternative cost is 15 times the price of the normal replacement fee.

According to a 30 year old villager from Andin village who had recently had to have his ID replaced, “I decided to apply for a new ID by the normal method; I paid, answered a million questions, and then I had to wait six months. My brother on the other hand chose the ‘special’ method, and picked up his ID card that evening”

Villagers who travel face many checkpoints along the way, and authorities check ID cards everywhere. If a villager does not have one, they receive a fine and are forced to return home. Authorities will make no exceptions about villagers traveling without ID cards. In once case a villager had a letter of permission from the village headman, they were fined and many questions were asked.

“Once I was stopped at the cement bridge which is situated at the entrance of Ye town,” said a 40 year old village from Ye town, “I had lost my ID card, but I had a permission letter from a member of the Township Peace and Development Council (TPDC) that said I was travelling back fromYabu village which is in Kaleinaung Sub-township, Tenasserim Division. While I was allowed back into Ye town, I was fined 3,000 kyat.”

“Many people in Ye township have been migrating to Thailand and need to get their ID cards as quick as possible. They have to pay more money, but they are happy to because they have to travel immediately,” according to a source who spoke with a member of the immigration authority, “But for people who don’t need to travel, they can pay the lower price. However the service is slower because the agents who make the IDs are lazy about the work when they only make the regular fee a villager must pay for a card replacement.”

READ MORE---> Lost ID cards have led to corruption amongst Immigration authorities in Ye township...