By GLADYS TAY
KOTA TINGGI: About 300 Rohingya refugees are finding it hard to survive since they lost their jobs in October.They had worked at car wash centres here but since the Immigration Department imposed a RM5,000 fine in late October on businessmen who hired refugees, they were all fired by their bosses.
Nurul Hok Abdul Hok, 28, said he had been jobless since Oct 22, when his boss received the warning.
“Nobody dares to hire us now because they do not want to risk paying the fine,” he told The Star when met at their settlement here.
Officially displaced: Abdul Ali showing the UNHCR identity card of his daughter Sathra who was arrested in October Nurul Hok added that they were forced to work since the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) told them that it would no longer support their living here.
The father of three said he had five mouths to feed and without a job, it was impossible for them to survive.
“We have to pay rent of RM250 per month and we already have problems paying our utility bills,” he said, hoping that the Immigration Department would issue temporary work permits for them to continue to earn a living.
“How can we survive without money as we need to eat, we need a place for shelter and we need money for medication if we are sick?
“We do not want to beg for money or rob,” he added.
The Rohingyas are a Muslim ethnic group of western Myanmar who have been in exile after human rights violations by the Myanmar junta in 1978.
They have fled to different parts of the world including Bangladesh, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Thailand and Malaysia.
Their village chief Abdul Ali Ali Ahmed said the move to fine the bosses came after three arrests were made by the Immigration Department in the area.
He said 38 of the refugees were arrested on three separate occasions between Sept 14 and Oct 22.
The father of five said his 14-year-old daughter Sathra Bagum Abdul Ali was among those arrested.
“Once they are arrested, they will be jailed for two months before they are sent to Thailand.
“We do not know whether we can meet Sathra again,” he said.
Abdul Ali said he had contacted the UNHCR for assistance but to no avail.
“We really hope that either the UNHCR or the Malaysian Government can give us some form of assistance,” he said
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