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Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Thousands of refugees turned away

Immigration Department caught off guard by last-minute notice compelling UNHCR card holders to register themselves along with illegals under 6P programme.

PETALING JAYA: About 10,000 refugees and asylum seekers flooded the Immigration Department in Putrajaya when they were given an 11th hour notice to register themselves under the government’s 6P amnesty programme.

Despite being refugee card holders under the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ (UNHCR) amnesty programme, the home ministry insisted that they register together with the illegal workers today.

Overwhelmed and ill prepared, immigration officials had little choice but to turn back a large number of the refugees and asked them to return tomorrow.

Suaram coordinator Andika Wahab criticised both the UNHCR and the ministry for not giving sufficient notice to refugee card holders to register under the 6P amnesty programme.

“There are about 100,000 refugees in the country. How do they plan to register them before the deadline on Aug 26?” asked Andika. “The immigration department should have been better prepared for today’s turnout.”

“The government should have opened more registration counters and extended operation hours from 8am till 10pm to accommodate the huge number of people.There were not even enough toilets to cater for them today,” said Andika.

A Myanmar refugee organisation said they were informed by UNHCR office late yesterday to register themselves.

It’s chief, who only gave his name as Sai, said: “The UNHCR told us to gather as many people as we can to register today.”

‘Capacity to process only 2,500 a day’

Sai, who brought about 100 refugees, arrived at Putrajaya early this morning only to find thousands had gathered ahead of his group.

“The situation was terrible. There were shouting and jostling without consideration for the safety of women and children amongst us,” he said.

After a nearly three-hour wait, an immigration official came out and announced that they were overstretched for the day and told the crowd to return the next day.

“The officer told us they only had capacity to handle 2,500 people a day,” said Sai. “We had to charter buses to come here. Many of us had to take a day off from work for this,” said Sai.

An official from the immigration department who claimed anonymity told FMT that they would hold a meeting later today to come up with a mechanism to register the refugees.

In July, Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin announced a mass amnesty programme for about two million illegal workers in the country.

He said the 6P programme which includes registration, legalisation, amnesty, supervision, enforcement, and deportation would encourage companies to register their illegal workers.

UNHCR officials could not be reached for their comments.

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