A refugee from Karenni State in Burma speaks of the frustration and indignity involved in refugee life in Mae Hong Son Thailand.
"Most people, when they see the word "refugee," think of people with no food to eat, no clothes to wear, no place to stay and no education …Some people sympathise for refugees and try to help them in many ways … Others may feel nothing about refugees and don’t care about them."
With Burma set to take over as Chair of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 2006, pressure is mounting on member countries to decide whether they are willing to be represented on the international stage by a notorious military dictatorship…
In October of 2004, the government of Malaysia, despite its generally ambivalent posture towards refugees, declared that it would recognize the Rohingyas, a group of Muslim people who live in Arakan State in Burma, as refugees and would furthermore offer them identification documents and work permits. A few months after this announcement, Kabir, a 17-year old Rohingya refugee from Kutupalong Camp in Bangladesh, decided to make the long trip to Malaysia. This article tells his story…
