BURMESE REFUGEES TELL OF ABUSE AND SQUALOR IN MALAYSIAN DETENTION CAMPS
source: http://worldfocus.org/blog/2009/08/25/qa-detainee-tells-of-squalor-beatings-in-malaysian-cam...
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You will never look at a helicoptor the same way again. Learn about this strange and unusual punishment inflicted on refugees from Burma who are detained in Malaysia in camps that jail 700 people with only four toilets. Excerpts from interview with independent journalist Karen Zusman and David, a Burmese refugee recently released from detention:
KZ: I know the camps have become overcrowded because the Malaysian government has come under scrutiny from the U.S. about trafficking refugees. So the deportations have stopped, but the arrests have not stopped.
D: Yes, that is exactly how it is. So the camps are way too crowded. They just pack us in there, they don’t care. To them we are illegal. Like criminals. They don’t care why we are here. So they put us in here like as if we are dogs.
KZ: The government has now allowed journalists to visit the camps. We have heard that some camps are getting better. Is this true?
D: I want to tell you, with all due respect, it is not like anything good at all these camps. It is like, truly, it is like hell. And they treat us like animals.
KZ: And what about if a detainee gets sick — is there any medical treatment available?
D: This is also really bad. You can be sick but they are not going to let you see the doctor. It can be really bad. One night a girl was crying a lot. Then we heard a lot of girls screaming for help. For a couple of hours they were shouting like this. But the detention people wouldn’t get the first girl see the doctor or take her to the hospital. She died that night, because her appendix burst open. I was also sick. I have a heart tension problem. But they do not want to give you any medical [treatment], so you just have to suffer there.
K: Is there any kind of discipline or punishment?
D: Yes, yes. That is what I wanted to talk you about. Another problem is that we get punished a lot. There are three main types of punishment:
1. The first one is the helicopter. This one we have to make a noise with our mouth like a helicopter. Then we are forced to take our shirt off and swing it around with one arm like a propeller. That is why they call it the helicopter. Maybe we have to do this for one hour. Your arm and your throat are in so much pain, but you have to keep going. They say, “Do the helicopter!” Or you will be beaten. It is really a humiliation, that one — doing the helicopter in front of all these people.
2. Sometimes they just beat you for punishment. They don’t even ask you to do the helicopter.
3. Press-ups, maybe 50 or 100 press-ups, I mean push-ups, in the sun.
KZ: I have heard from other refugees that there are many people in the camps that were registered and arrested anyway, even though they showed the police their U.N. refugee card at the time of arrest — do you know anything about this?
D: Yes, this is also true. I don’t understand why they do that. The RELA, the immigration police, they really don’t seem to care about this card, if you have it or you don’t. Sometimes they might rip it up and laugh at you, or throw it on the floor or put it in their pocket. It only helps after you have been in the camps a long time and experiencing this kind of hell for a while. Then the U.N. can take you out. But not before.
KZ: What is your dream for the future?
D: It is very simple, really. I want to have a family. And I want to see my mother and father in Burma, my parents. Let me tell you, this is a serious thing. A most important thing. For me first I need to see my parents. Then I want to get married and have my own family. As a free man. It can be in any country. Just not in Asia anymore please. I have been in Thailand, too, and it is also bad. We are from Burma. We want to go home to our families only in Burma. But we cannot. So then our next dream is that we would like to come to a country where we can have a family and be safe.
Read full interview, hear audio excerpts at worldfocus.org
for more info and to hear audio doc: www.pleasedontsaymyname.org
KZ: I know the camps have become overcrowded because the Malaysian government has come under scrutiny from the U.S. about trafficking refugees. So the deportations have stopped, but the arrests have not stopped.
D: Yes, that is exactly how it is. So the camps are way too crowded. They just pack us in there, they don’t care. To them we are illegal. Like criminals. They don’t care why we are here. So they put us in here like as if we are dogs.
KZ: The government has now allowed journalists to visit the camps. We have heard that some camps are getting better. Is this true?
D: I want to tell you, with all due respect, it is not like anything good at all these camps. It is like, truly, it is like hell. And they treat us like animals.
KZ: And what about if a detainee gets sick — is there any medical treatment available?
D: This is also really bad. You can be sick but they are not going to let you see the doctor. It can be really bad. One night a girl was crying a lot. Then we heard a lot of girls screaming for help. For a couple of hours they were shouting like this. But the detention people wouldn’t get the first girl see the doctor or take her to the hospital. She died that night, because her appendix burst open. I was also sick. I have a heart tension problem. But they do not want to give you any medical [treatment], so you just have to suffer there.
K: Is there any kind of discipline or punishment?
D: Yes, yes. That is what I wanted to talk you about. Another problem is that we get punished a lot. There are three main types of punishment:
1. The first one is the helicopter. This one we have to make a noise with our mouth like a helicopter. Then we are forced to take our shirt off and swing it around with one arm like a propeller. That is why they call it the helicopter. Maybe we have to do this for one hour. Your arm and your throat are in so much pain, but you have to keep going. They say, “Do the helicopter!” Or you will be beaten. It is really a humiliation, that one — doing the helicopter in front of all these people.
2. Sometimes they just beat you for punishment. They don’t even ask you to do the helicopter.
3. Press-ups, maybe 50 or 100 press-ups, I mean push-ups, in the sun.
KZ: I have heard from other refugees that there are many people in the camps that were registered and arrested anyway, even though they showed the police their U.N. refugee card at the time of arrest — do you know anything about this?
D: Yes, this is also true. I don’t understand why they do that. The RELA, the immigration police, they really don’t seem to care about this card, if you have it or you don’t. Sometimes they might rip it up and laugh at you, or throw it on the floor or put it in their pocket. It only helps after you have been in the camps a long time and experiencing this kind of hell for a while. Then the U.N. can take you out. But not before.
KZ: What is your dream for the future?
D: It is very simple, really. I want to have a family. And I want to see my mother and father in Burma, my parents. Let me tell you, this is a serious thing. A most important thing. For me first I need to see my parents. Then I want to get married and have my own family. As a free man. It can be in any country. Just not in Asia anymore please. I have been in Thailand, too, and it is also bad. We are from Burma. We want to go home to our families only in Burma. But we cannot. So then our next dream is that we would like to come to a country where we can have a family and be safe.
Read full interview, hear audio excerpts at worldfocus.org
for more info and to hear audio doc: www.pleasedontsaymyname.org
