Out of the Shadows: Building Community in Asia
VOLUME 26, NUMBER 3, JUNE 2004
Putrajaya, the new government city being built outside of Malaysia's capital of Kuala Lumpur, is a stunning mixture of Islamic and Western architecture. Designed as an "intelligent garden city", Putrajaya has green spaces, an artificial lake, hiking and cycling trails. Fibre optic cable has been laid beneath the streets to provide high-speed internet access to residents.
When completed, the new city will have a high-tech transportation system, cultural and sports centres, and a state-of-the-art hospital. At the same time, however, behind this modern infrastructure lies another human reality that calls for justice.
Last fall we visited Putrajaya to meet some of the Burmese refugees working illegally in Malaysia. We travelled by taxi through a new suburb of identical pink stucco houses, all empty, waiting for government workers to move in. We were dropped off at the edge of the suburb and walked into a ravine that cut through the hillside. The ravine quickly became a jungle - dense, wet, and full of mosquitoes. A mile along the muddy pathway, we began to encounter little platforms made of bamboo and covered with plastic. These were the homes of a group of about 400 workers who are building the new city.
We were greeted by a small group of men who led us deeper into the jungle. We passed over a stream where some men were doing their laundry. Then, in the one place where the ravine levelled out, we came to a church made of bamboo poles and a sheet plastic roof - a rudimentary church, but a church nonetheless, complete with altar and cross.
A group of about seventy men gathered, and we sat down and they told us their stories. All of them are refugees from Chin State in Burma. Some are fleeing arrest because of their opposition to Burma's military junta, others to escape Burma's collapsing economy. All of them are here illegally. Malaysian authorities do not consider the estimated 20,000 people from Burma as refugees; rather, they are regarded as illegal migrants and treated as criminals.
Some of these people have lived in this jungle ravine for ten years, working on the construction sites for very low wages. Because they are illegal, they exist in the shadows, in constant fear of arrest and deportation. Every few months the police sweep through the ravine on horseback. The refugees run away and the huts are burned. But they return and rebuild. Half of the men have been arrested and deported, but they come back as there is nowhere else to go. Some have applied for refugee status from the United Nations office in Kuala Lumpur; this is dangerous, however, as the police often stake out the UN office and arrest people who attempt to enter.
At the end of the discussion we thanked the group for sharing their stories. An older man stood, and he was crying. He said that it moved him beyond words that people from so far away cared enough to visit them in the jungle. We told them that they are not alone; that no one is illegal, no one is anonymous. All of the refugees came forward to shake our hands.
There is a striking contrast between the shining new city and the lives of those who are building it. Yet, like people everywhere, these workers have created a community of mutual support. The rudimentary jungle church is a gathering place for worship and socializing. When new refugees arrive, they are taken in and provided with food and shelter. The refugees themselves have created a centre in Kuala Lumpur to liaise with the UN High Commission for Refugees and to mobilize the support of Malaysian churches and human rights organizations.
It is our experience that even in the midst of repression, people seek themselves in others and create common bonds of support and solidarity. Inter Pares supports the efforts of men and women throughout Asia to build community - to organize as refugees, as farmers, as labourers, as the unemployed - in order to protect themselves and to promote their interests. This Bulletin provides some examples of such community-building activities in Asia.
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| Reviewed June 1, 2004 |  |
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