‘Introduce ID card for Rohingya’
ORGANISED: It will enable them to get jobs, education and healthcare, says special envoy
ASPECIAL identification system should be introduced for the Rohingya community in the country to keep track of their status and enable them to get jobs and receive education here.
Organisation of Islamic Cooperation special envoy to Myanmar Tan Sri Syed Hamid Albar proposed for the community to be better organised and given a new card, not unlike the identification cards provided by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
“We must have a system of registration so that it will enable them to get jobs, healthcare and education for their children.
“A card system like the IMM13 immigration card can be issued to them,” he said after handing out food aid to the Rohingya community in Selayang Baru here yesterday.
The UNHCR cards, he said, only showed that they were refugees, but another card would allow them to have rights until problems in their country were solved under international laws.
“The community must be organised. Organisation of Islamic Cooperation special envoy to Myanmar
(second from right), handing out food aid to the This way, it would be easier for the government to collect and distribute funds to them.
“In Malaysia, there are many Rohingya camps.
“They are allowed to live all over the place.
“We do not want them to be exploited, especially by criminal groups, which would lead to more social problems for us.”
According to Syed Hamid, many Rohingya children were born in Malaysia and their status should be identified through this new framework of keeping their presence properly managed.
He stressed that Malaysia had not (third from right) and his wife,
in Kuala Lumpur yesterday. signed the 1951 UN Refugee Convention as it would lead to an influx of refugees.
“We are an open country, we are a maritime state. If we open our shores, many refugees will come in.
“That is why we have to be careful,” he said, adding that the final and lasting solution to the Rohingya crisis lied with Asean.
At present, there are about 50,000 Rohingya from Myanmar in Malaysia.
Early this month, thousands of Rohingya gathered at the Myanmar embassy here to protest against the violence inflicted on their community in Myanmar.