Fear of Gang Attacks Accumulate

Kuala Lumpur (VOCR) 03 April: Violent crime targeted at refugees stranding dramatically rise as refugees in Malaysia are limitedly vulnerable and regarded as illegals alone—and nothing are they capable of when attacked and arested. The recent gang attacks on refugees in several occasions spell a great fear for the safety of refugees.

Two of recognised refugees from Mizo community last week told The VOCR that they experienced gang attack in the evening in public while they were on way back home and robbed them of their belongings--money and hand-phones. One who request his name remains anonymous got small injure of knife-slash on his shoulder when a group of gangs attempted to confiscate his UNHCR's card and effectively defended, with which the card they could only be guaranteed their escape from police arresting. 

Amazingly but common practice in Malaysia, small number of Chin group stranding in Sungai Buloh working in Plastic Factory were attacked by a group of five gangsters at their apartment provided by their employer—threatening them all in the room by sword and asking money and hand-phones in the first week of last month. "The gangsters came by car and checking IC (Identity card) as if personnel from police station an then started threatening us to kill by the time one of my friends realized that they were just gangsters and tried to pick up the phone and ring our boss", said Aung Phu Tun from Paletwa Khomi community, who is holding ACR's (Alliance of Chin Refugee) membership card. Not only were they badly attacked but an Indian neighbor also hard hit following their looking through all our belongings, continued him. 

Obviously, this was a brutal group attack who deliberately take advantage over the less fortunate facing all kinds of hardships and difficulties in foreign soil. 

For people of being fortunate to feel that violent crime is going up and to be told they are suffering from moral panic has always been of great concern. 

Day after day, the recent occurrences of gang attack underline a large scale of the challenges refugees face in the helpless society--society with full of limitations and lack of international supports.

By Simon