Why and How Chin refugees fled to Malaysia from Myanmar

Victor S Khambil

Chin State is located in Southeast Asia and lies between the longitude 92.15E, and in
between the latitude 18N and 27.30N. Bangladesh is to its southwest, Manipur State in
India is to its northwest, China to its north, Sagaing Division of Myanmar to its east and
Arakan State is to its south. The size of Chin State is slightly smaller than Switzerland.
Chin State is rich in natural flora and fauna. Chin state has a mild hot wet climate.
Almost 90% of Chin people are Christians. The population is estimated at half a million.
Chin people are aboriginal inhabitants of Chinland for hundreds of years. Chin people are
distinctive nationality with their own culture, religious, politics and literacy. After the
British occupation of Burma under its empire in 1885, Chinland was also annexed under
British Empire in 1895. As the leaders of Chin people agreed to take independence
together with Burmese leaders, Chin people joined Burmese leaders in January 1948 and
accepted independence from the British Empire. Unfortunately the Union of Burma has
been misruled by successive Burmese Buddhist rulers and Chin State was most
suppressed under Burmese dictatorial rule since Independent until today. That’s why we
the Chin people know that we do not get Independent until today since the Chin people
are discriminated and systematically enslave under Burmese rulers, worse than the British
occupiers.

The name of Burma was changed into Myanmar by the current military government in
1993 in order to eclipse all ethnic groups into Myanmarization. Burma has 52 million
populations in which 4 millions only are Christians, 4 millions Muslims, Hindu and
others different religions from Buddhism. The majority are Buddhists. From 1962 until
today, Burma has been ruled by military dictators and run the country without
constitution and laws. Martial law is the only vehicle the military regime has to drive 52
millions for more than four decades. Even Buddhist monks tucked pistols under their
armpits and lure Christian children in Chin State publicly to join Buddhism. Poverty is
the tool for the military regime to recruit poor civilians and Christians to expand military
power in the disguise.

Human Rights Violation in Chin State

There were only two military battalions in Chin State till 2000. However in 2005, there
are already ten military battalions stationed in Chin State. The worst is the military
headquarters do not provide supplies to military soldiers in Chin State for their
subsistence but allow the soldiers to loot among the Chin people. Everything is done
systematically. For example, three soldiers secretly robbed chicken from somebody house
at midnight and when the house owners alerted neighbors and caught the robbers red
hand, the military commanders who order the robbery verbally punished his soldiers in
front of them or slightly slapped his soldiers. However days later, the same military band
made a surprise midnight check at the same house where they robbed the previous night
and ransacked through the house. If they can not find anything suspicious, the military
accused the house owners of secretly allowing insurgents and maintained that they got
information and beat them as serious as they can punish. Therefore even hearing robbery
noise under the house at another midnight the next time is knowingly let go ahead. As a
once scorched bear dread every fire, no civilian dare to confront lawless thugs at large in
the village. Sometime they publicly ordered domestic livestock to be sent over to the
military outposts or camps by respective villages or charging village council members to
fulfill their order. That’s why to work as village council members is a very difficult and
dangerous job under military regime. There are nine towns in Chin State until 2003 but
the military expanded three more towns to allow themselves to get a bigger space for
systematic placements to conduct robbery among Chin people. As 90 % are Christians in
Chin State, every village has it own church but the church also become hall for band of
military soldiers whenever they come into the village. Military know that Christians will
not shun Sunday and it is their best chance for military soldiers to bide their time to
capture villagers for force porter services among church-goers . The tactics the military
use over innocent villagers is very cunning and tricky which ostensibly seem not a bad
thing from view but insidiously harming the life of every individual.

The military soldiers secretly connive with few locals and get information from local
unscrupulous informers about people in towns and villages such as who is rich enough,
who have relatives abroad and who have sons and daughters in underground movement.
Later the military quietly approached someone whom they believe have some money and
accused them as having connection with underground movement. Actually the military
know that they guy they held is purely innocent but want money from family. At first,
they threatened and even not allow family to meet person they held for a few days but
later the military released after they are paid huge money by victim family. Most of the
human rights violation in Chin State is not publicly done by military but all is secretive
and insidious. The military regime establish Union Solidarity Development Association
( USDA ) everywhere in Burma in which students from High School level to Primary
schools level are automatically considered USDA supporters. Whenever a high military
official visit towns or villages, his subordinate soldiers came first and order that young-
girl students must entertain their boss at guest house or town hall. Failure to comply the
order is punishable crime. Therefore most young girls were fallen victims to the military
systematic trap and ended up physically spoilt. Anyone can lodge a police report but no
one dare to come forward regarding what the military did on her/him.

There are 45 different Chin dialects in Chin State and the lack of common language in
Chin State badly affected intercommunication among each other. The military understand
that the weak point of Chin people is that we have no common language and use Burmese
as common language. Even if Hakha dialect which is widely understood in Chin state
was learned in every primary school in Chin State as a compulsory subject, the military
not only abolish Hakha dialect literacy in schools but also ban any written Chin literacy
even in signboards. A private soldier who can marry Chin woman is directly promoted in
Chin State. Even if the Chin National Army ( CNA) do not fight arms to arms with
military soldiers since the CNA is a small arm wing created under Chin National Front
(CNF), the military use the presence of CNF as an excuse to allege every Chin national as
rebellious against military government. Locking the Chin people inside their home state
by ten military battalions with fully armed soldiers for 24 hours not to protect but to
attack systematically forced sixty thousands Chin flee to neighboring India and twenty
thousand Chin refugees in Malaysia with thousands of internally displaced Chin people.

Chin State is totally engulfed into the military systematic human violation which is not
seen by outside world from the far view and can not also open and see what is actually
happening inside everyday in Chin State ( Burma ). Every single person in Chin State is
just biding his/her time to set free themselves from the military hostage drama which has
been going on for already 45 years. People are filled with fear and bullet is the ballot
under military regime in Myanmar. The world longest National Convention to draft
constitution in Myanmar since 1992 is still under construction with no fix date to wrap
up. Myanmar ultimate ruler General Than Shwe is deeply sunken inside his own paranoia
and move the capital to inland Burma and design himself as the Fourth Burma Builder
while 52 millions are trampled under his feet.

Why Chin refugees fled to Malaysia

As no human being can survive without food and drinks, even if we the Chin have to run
away from military atrocities from Myanmar, we still have to survive at least with mere
food from hand to mouth just to hang on for breathing our life. In order to flee into
Malaysia from Chin State - Myanmar, the Chin refugees have to inter-cross many towns
and villages within Myanmar as Malaysia and Thailand situated east from Chin State.
Due to the long journey from Chin state to Malaysia, fleeing Chin refugees have to pay
large amount of money to human smugglers who will take them into Malaysia as most of
the Chin refugees even did not know where Malaysia is. Since the early 1990s, a handful
of Chin refugees were able to land in Malaysia without the knowledge of UNHCR
presence in Kuala Lumpur. Most of the first-comers to Malaysia just concentrated only
on how they can survive themselves in Malaysia.

The tight intercommunication of Chin community gradually spread news of handful Chin
refugee successful landing in Malaysia among few Chin nationals in the mid 1990s which
draw attention to most of the Chin people who are stuck under military regime. While the
Chin people were helplessly biding best time to escape from Myanmar military regime
persecution and ongoing religious discrimination, even getting information about a new
country in South-East Asia where a finger-count portion of Chin were successfully
landing in Malaysia was a big news. In Chin State, houses, domestic-livestock, properties
were sold in order to be able to pay the human smugglers to flee into Malaysia. As
fleeing into a new country pose a very risky journey, most of the people coming into
Malaysia in 1990s were all males.

How human smugglers brought Chin refugees into Malaysia

It is a gruesome but real story daily happening until now in Myanmar, Thailand and
Malaysia borders and how Thai and Malay drug addicted syndicate took risk to bring
illegal immigrants into Malaysia in which most Chin refugees also are exploited. Agents
in Myanmar also are keeping in contact with their accomplices at the borders and
exported Chin refugees to the borders like bundle of goods. Up to the Myanmar border,
the Myanmar national agents arranged for the journeys of all Myanmar nationals who
want to go to Malaysia. As it is impossible to avoid Thailand to come to Malaysia, the
Thai agents played most of the human smuggling network to bring in people into
Malaysia. As soon as the Chin people stepped on the border shore to Thailand from
Myanmar, the Thai agents first assembled people into groups and herded them at night in
the deep jungles in order to avoid Thai authorities’ detection.

The Thai agents most of the time separated young girls from males and even young
couples were separated. No one dare to quarrel with these agents since they were in the
jungles where they did not know where they are. They are in another hell outside of
Myanmar as no justice rule over these smuggling syndicates. It took at least a week
walking in the jungle from Thai and Myanmar border to reach Malay and Thai border.
The night-guides often beat people with green wooden rod who can not keep up with the
others while walking at night in the jungles. The smugglers also are armed with small
pistols and put on knives at their waists. Most of them are drug-addict persons and they
were so fierce and often go berserk against the people they were herding when they are
ran out of enough drugs. At least four persons are crammed inside a four-wheel car booth
and five at the backseat with two persons bending over front-seat. They put at least ten
persons in the car. As a result of suffocation inside the back booth of the car, five Chin
refugees were pulled out dead as they were crammed for at least 8 hours flapping one
another over their bodies inside this small back booth.

No person can protest while in the journey from inside the booth. If anyone can not
withstand the heat inside the car-booth and make noise, the driver stopped his car and
waved a big sharp knife over their faces which often slashed and injured many people.
Most Chin refugees were smuggled into Malaysia between the risk of life and death.
Even if they believe that they already escape from military regime atrocities in Myanmar,
the risk they have to face is another torture in the hands of human smugglers. Young
women who also fled from Myanmar could not free themselves from this gruesome risky
journey to come into Malaysia. They don’t reveal to anyone what they face except
answering with tear forever. They were spoilt in the disguise but they know they can not
avoid. Even if they are escaping from military regime in Myanmar, they are fallen into
the capturing net of human smugglers. A victim of human smugglers, a Chin refugee
woman I interviewed myself even said that human smugglers in Thai border could be
Myanmar military agents as the way they mistreated Chin women is inhumane and
horrible nightmare come true. No woman can escape from the threat of pistols and knife
in the deep jungle where group of male-smugglers are taking authority over the people
they own to smuggle them.
Through the intercommunication among the Chin people, some of them know how
dangerous and risky to come across Thai & Malay borders but the agents twist their way
of operating network by falsifying paper works, company names, permits, name of
employers in Malaysia, fix salary, location of works etc. The ever changing trick of
agents pulls their victims back into their trap and the exploitation is back on track. Many
Chin refugee women are fallen victim to this illusory snare of agents and face physical
abuse by the drug addict agents in Thai border. As UNHCR in Malaysia do not consider
victims of trafficking in persons as vulnerable persons, hundreds of Chin refugee women
are now stuck in Malaysia. Being a single woman without any form of document is
already vulnerable in Malaysia since Malaysia is not only UN Refugee signatory but even
whip refugee as illegal immigrant. Malaysia should at least give respect to
unaccompanied single women who are vulnerably facing difficulties in Malaysia. Instead
of arresting women and dumping them like men in Thai border where drug addict males
infested the areas, Malaysia should meticulously consider humanely especially in case of
women since dumping women at border is only feeding drug addict males there. UNHCR
also is on the par with Malaysian authority concerning women refugees since they ignore
the plight of Burmese-Chin refugee women and left many wandering as undocumented
persons among illegal immigrants. Instead of determining refugee on view of
vulnerability in Malaysia, uprooting from the real story and join the refugees in their
positions and co-understand the motive behind the force of leaving their respective
homeland will reflect the true image of UNHCR foundation for refugees.
The UNHCR must accelerate registering Chin refugee women and unaccompanied
minors before the authority sweep them along with other illegal immigrants. While even
legal migrant workers condition is under threat to confinement in their workplaces,
delaying even for a day to register refugee is a big risk. Outsourcing workers recruitment
system also is indirectly encouraging human smugglers to falsify or fake some sort of
paper work to convince their victims to exploit into Malaysia.

( 1 ) The government should review outsourcing the workers

( 2 ) Malaysia should respect the Rights of Women & Children and stop arresting them
( 3 ) UNHCR shall register firstly women and minors as staying in Malaysia is already
vulnerable without any form of documentation for refugees.

INCLUDEPICTURE "http://www.malaysiasite.nl/images/BorderThaiSide1.jpg" \*
MERGEFORMATINET
This small stream is dividing the Borders for Thailand and Malaysia. The scene here is location of Rantau Panjang
border’s gate where most Burmese illegal immigrants including Chin refugees are always deported by Malaysian
authorities. Deportees can wade this stream sometime but not in time of raining as the stream swell into flood.

“ The TV stations once showed clips of so-called rice smugglers walking across the
Malaysian-Thai border. According to a retired Police Inspector, Affendi, these people
are merely couriers. They are paid a certain amount for every sack of rice they carry
across the border.

"I used to be the Inspector of Rantau Panjang," said Affendi. "We didn't bother about
these people walking across the border. These people are not smugglers. They are
just couriers earning a living. If we stop them from earning a living this way, then
they may resort to other means to make a living, like crime."

True enough, these 'smugglers' walk across the border with sacks of rice on their
heads right under the noses of the police, immigration and customs officers. And, to
the authorities, they are not committing any crime.
"Sometimes we need to take action just to show we are doing our job," said Affendi.
"So we tip off the bosses that we will be making a raid that night. We then agree that
they will abandon one or two lorries for us to confiscate." "The driver will of course
'escape'," said Affendi laughing. “”_,_.___
INCLUDEPICTURE "http://phukhao.com/download/maps/Thailand-map.gif" \*
MERGEFORMATINET
Map of Thai, Myanmar and Malay borders. 95 % of Burmese who came to Malaysia
must come through Thailand while the rest are coming by boats through Andaman sea
and mostly landed in Penang port. In normal time to arrive Kuala Lumpur from Thai
border town take about 5-6 hours, the human smugglers take 10-12 hours to arrive KL.
According to people I interview in Malaysia, some of them told me that they saw grisly
decomposed bodies on the way in the jungles believed to be foreigners died in the
jungles. Some bodies were stuck inside the marshy places.