The Malaysian Insight

FOR Rohingya refugees in Malaysia, getting an official identity card from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is the lifeline that determines if they are genuine asylum-seekers or illegal migrants.

But the long and, for some, uncertain process of applying for a card has pushed some to look to illegal “middlemen” who are able to obtain the cards quickly, but at a price.

For Siti, a Rohingya refugee who has been working as a translator in Kuala Lumpur for 10 years, her wait for a UNHCR card stretched into years before she decided to go through a special Rohingya “community” to quicken the process.

“I tried to apply for the card through the UNHCR without anybody’s help, but it amounted to nothing. So, my friend asked me to approach this community to get the card,” she told The Malaysian Insight.

Siti had to pay a monthly “membership fee” of RM100 to be a part of the community, and another RM2,500 for the card, which arrived just several months later. She said the card is the same as UNHCR-issued cards.

She claims that the “middlemen” would deal directly with UNHCR to obtain the cards, adding that she has friends who applied directly through the UN agency but have yet to receive their cards after waiting for years.

Another refugee, 26-year-old Salleh Salamutullah, said most Rohingya refugees who were able to find the money to pay the agents would go through the “middlemen”.

Salleh, who has been waiting for his UNHCR card for the past five years, was one of the many refugees making up a snaking queue outside the UNHCR office in Kuala Lumpur early one morning.

“Life here is hard without the UNHCR card. My friends said if I want the card fast, I need to pay RM3,500. But I have no money. So that’s why I’m here queuing up again.”

According to official statistics from UNHCR, the number of refugees registered with the agency in Malaysia totalled 150,600 at the end of April, compared with 149,500 registered as of the end of last year.

The UNHCR card accords its holder a semblance of legal status in Malaysia, which is not a signatory to the UN Convention on Refugees.

While asylum-seekers and refugees in the country are still not legally recognised and are often victims of harassment by authorities, those who hold UNHCR cards are entitled to a 50% discount on medical bills at government health centres and are allowed to work legally in selected companies in the plantation and manufacturing industries.

In a statement to The Malaysian Insight, the UNHCR denied that it worked with third party or middlemen in the issuance of any documentation or cards in Malaysia.

UNHCR also noted that it does not charge for the issuance of identity cards, adding that the process of determining the actual status of an asylum seeker can vary in length.

“Even though everyone has a right to protection, UNHCR Malaysia needs to prioritise those refugees currently detained by the immigration, refugees who are exposed to direct danger, as well as those who have come to the UNHCR through referrals, including by government agencies.

“There are also those whom have been interviewed by the UNHCR and are deemed to need our immediate protection and support,” it said in the statement.

Rohingya researcher at the Institute of Asia-Europe at Universiti Malaya, Azlinariah Abdullah, said she would not be surprised if there existed a syndicate “selling” UNHCR cards to desperate refugees.

In her interviews with Rohingya refugees, many claimed to have been approached these middlemen.

“Actual proceedings in issuing a card can take a long time. So, this opens the doors for those within their own community who take advantage of the situation, such as those who claim to be able to obtain the cards faster at a price,” she told The Malaysian Insight. – June 7, 2017.