Email 
Print 
It’s distressing to see that the Government of Malaysia continues to target refugees for arrest, detention and deportation, including pregnant women and children. However, despite the difficult situation facing Rohingya in Malaysia, one very positive development that I learned about on this trip is the recent creation of a Rohingya women’s group.
Traditionally, women within the Rohingya community do not take on leadership roles. But through the encouragement and support of a Malaysian civil society organization, several Rohingya women have come together to form a committee and have made a plan to work towards improving their situation.
Lack of access to education for their children was one of the main issues identified by the women. Since Malaysia does not recognize the Rohingya as refugees but calls them illegal migrants (along with all the other Burmese refugees in the country), their children are barred from attending public schools. The women’s group had started an informal school in a residential building but was eventually forced to stop when one of the neighbors complained and told the women they would call immigration to arrest them.
Access to healthcare is another serious gap. It can be expensive and dangerous for refugees to give birth in local hospitals or clinics. Last year when I was in Malaysia several refugee women had been arrested and placed in detention with their newborn babies after having delivered at a local hospital. One pregnant Rohingya woman I spoke with told me that she had given birth to her first two children at home, and planned to do the same with this one. She is five months pregnant and had not yet been to see a doctor for prenatal care. She said her husband has no job at the moment and they have no money to pay for medical care.
Given the difficult conditions they are living under in Malaysia, it is encouraging to see these women push the boundaries of their normal roles in the community. They are now trying to open a center where they can do activities such as skills training and education. They even have plans to start a beauty salon. The women told me that it’s good to be organized together, despite the pressure and criticism many feel from their husbands. With all the abuses endured by the Rohingya inside Burma, these women do not wish to return there anytime soon, and while many would like to be resettled to a third country, the reality is that very few will be. That is why it was so compelling to meet and talk with these women, who are trying little by little to provide for themselves and their families, since no government will.
--Camilla Olson
Reuters AlertNet is not responsible for the content of external websites.
22 Dec 2008 12:41:50 GMT
I'm one of the Rohingya Refugee. I was forcefully expelled from Arakan, my beloved native, by terminating my higher studies in Akyab (capital of Arakan State) showing the reason that I'm not a Buddist. Where should we people go? Is this planet has no place for us (Rohingya Muslims of Arakan)? Our people where they be, deprived from food, education, shelter etc. Does we are not human?
People enter Bangladesh as it's neighbor country, but the local goons of Bangladesh (in border area) are taking advantage of these Rohingys' helplessness by having rape, loot and even sodomize! Such events are turning to normal actions to these gang. Some countries show their pity by settling them in the third country. I criticize about this, as it's not a final solution. If it had to be done the entire community should be resettled in a single country. Otherwise just scattering a few people to some places will be like helping Burmese Junta's internal anti-Rohingya policy.