They escaped – but the nightmare goes on
KUALA LUMPUR: Abdul Shukur Huson Ahmad was among the thousands of Rohingyas who fled Myanmar in rickety boats three years ago.
After a perilous journey by boat, during which many fellow travellers died, he made it to Malaysia.
After six months in detention, he received a UNHCR card and now works as a shop assistant here.
The nightmare, however, will not go away. His family – his parents and seven siblings – are still in a village near Sittwe, the capital of the Rakhine state in Myanmar.
Abdul Shukur said he lives in constant fear for the safety of his family.
“I keep in touch with them regularly ... maybe every three or four days,” he said, adding that he tries to help by sending money home to his parents.
But money could soon be useless if they become victims of the current humanitarian crisis in the country.
“They (my parents) cannot work or even grow anything as they would be confiscated,” Abdul Shukur said.
He claimed his uncle, who was in his 60s, was killed by the military about a month ago.
“The tragedy has saddened me, it makes me fear more for the safety of my family,” he added.
Mother-of-four Nurzaman Abdul Hashim is another one who sur- vived the life-threatening journey on the boat to Malaysia.
She is glad she and her children are safe in Malaysia with her husband, Syed Ahmad, 44.
But she shares the grief of her fellow Rohingya still left in Myanmar.
“I can’t relax, I cry every night,” said the 43-year-old, who fled with her whole family after her fishing village near Kyaukpyu was razed to the ground in 2014.
She said she feared for the safety of women and children, as she heard news that the Myanmar armed forces was killing the Rohingya indiscriminately.
“They are women like me, their children are like my children,” she added.
Both Nurzaman and her husband felt that even though they had escaped the violence in their native country, their families and other Rohingya refugees were still caught in an endless battle to survive.
She may be safe from the Myanmar military but she still lives in fear of the Malaysian authorities.
She and her family, like countless others, are still waiting for their UNHCR cards.
“My children can’t get an education here. We can’t work legally.
“It’s sad ... where do we belong? How do we live? Where do we live?” she cried.