KUALA LUMPUR: Ethnic Tamils from Myanmar are the lesser known victims of the human trafficking crisis and the situation is getting worse for them because they are not recognised as refugees.
The Tamils, who are predominately Hindus and Christians, are descendants of rice growers in the Thaton and Bhamo districts of Myanmar.
They too were fleeced by agents of human trafficking rackets who lured them to leave with promises of a monthly salary of RM3,500 in Malaysia.
But they ended up being packed in the same boats with Rohingya and Bangladeshi migrants, sailing for up to two weeks without food and after that being tortured at transit camps along the Thailand and Malaysia border.
Many of them said they had sold their properties to pay the agents but ended up as bonded slaves for the trafficking syndicates, which sent them to construction sites in Penang, Kedah and Perlis.
Most of those interviewed were not articulate in Tamil, the language of their forefathers, but were more comfortable speaking to each other in Burmese.
S. Parimala, 21, said many of those in her group left home before the military junta announced the issuance of identification cards during the middle of last year.
“We are in limbo because according to Rohingyas who just arrived, we could be shot if we return without identification papers and we are also living in fear of the authorities in Malaysia.
“We are stateless but UNHCR office refuses to give us refugee status,” she said when met at a construction site in an undisclosed location in Alor Setar, Kedah, yesterday.
She said about 110 Myanmar Tamils were now spread out in construction sites and living in squalid conditions.
“We are in touch with each other. The first batch arrived as boat people in January 2013 and the last person, about 10 months ago.
“We crossed the border through jungle tracks before a local agent called Yazid sent us to the construction sites in cars and vans from pick-up points across the border,” she said.
Parimala said ethnic Tamils suffered the same torture and abuses like the Rohinygas.
“I was forced to have sex with a man from my village at the transit camp as four heartless armed members of the syndicate watched us.
“I lost all my dignity but the man married me as soon as both of us arrived in Malaysia. We now we have a two-year-old daughter in this small hut,” she said, pointing to her present home.
Another migrant, James Kanna, 31 said: “I was duped into believing that I could enter the country legally.”
He added that he too tried to get refugee status but was rejected.
“I have not seen my son for a year and I don’t think I can see him again. He probably he thinks I am already dead,” said the widower who left his son with a neighbour.
K. Segar, 22, said those who were trafficked into Malaysia were aged between 20 and 31.
“I work as a labourer with daily pay of RM30 which is not enough and I have to run each time I see a man in a uniform,” he said.
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