An Epic of Deaths in a Foreign Soil

By Simon

Kuala Lumpur (VOCR) 19 AUG: Amidst much of the problems challenging the livelihood of refugees in Malaysia, death caused by accident on road, lack of medical treatment in detention centres and camps and the flawed diagnosis in hospitals that is believed to be purportedly lack of proper care for refugees with results of loss of many lives, is critically on top of the current issues vastly needing the international community support.

Chin refugees in Malaysia are solely under the umbrella of the two biggest organizations, namely, ACR (Alliance Chin Refugee) and CRC (Chin Refugee Committee) which are community-based organizations assisting enormous problems facing Chin refugees in terms of social welfare, intervention and protection and contact with the office of UNHCR for the cause of Chins. Industrious and invaluable, the two organizations are tasked to undertaking all related issues coming across Chin refugees in Malaysia.  

When interviewed with the current chairman of ACR, it was reportedly learnt that they have five cases of death since the start of this year –among which the fact that two are car-crushed accident and three are of hospital dead according to their information department. No further details issued. 

However, according to the information department, CRC is reportedly handling 24 cases of death of which two are of car accident related whereas four cases are of dead in detention centers and the rest of cases are reportedly known mainly as cancers, immediate collapse and malarias and TB. 

Mini-fellowship and community who attempt to stand by their own also partly assist their members but it is not possible to reach such communities in this regard. Therefore, this report is incredibly based on the information received by ACR and CRC to date. 

Meanwhile, according to the first-hand reports obtained by The VOCR, many of Chins currently detained in immigration detention camps and centers are still denied medical access no matter how far they are in critical condition and the rooted disease are said to be caused by rat-urine which is learnt to be mainly widespread in every detention center and camp besides matters of insufficient food provision, small scale of physical abuse and poor maintenance of sanitation. 

When it comes to the terms—hospitalization and referral by outside clinic's doctors, refugees are always poorly treated as third persons in the state-run hospitals meaning that refugees are intentionally made waiting in queue for a very long time and given appointment unfairly unlike the locals and people from third countries. 

Of particular concern are daily visitors to the clinics run by UNHCR and NGOs of which Chin refugees are more than up to eighty percent in total according to their respective records exclusive of being unrecorded visitors to the private clinics by their own attempts.

"Because of the impact of high anxiety lifestyle and unceasing fear for arrest, many come to seek medical treatment in the clinics", said one of the clinic staffs who request to remain anonymous.