It said that between June 2009 and March 2010 some 10,000 to 15,000 Chin refugees were registered with the UNHCR.
Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Friday, Kennedy Lal Ram Lian, the coordinator of CRC, said, “There are so many registered [Chin] refugees that we cannot monitor them all. We had to form a subcommittee.”
He added that the CRC did not collect money for registration from the refugees, only a fee for transportation, phone calls and expenses—about 30 Ringgit ($10) per person.
However, according to several of those who consider themselves victims of the scheme, a person who wants to get refugee status through the CRC must pay at least 3,500 Ringgit ($1,133) to cover the entire process. They told The Irrawaddy that others pay the minimum fee, which is 1,200 Ringgit ($390), just to register with the CRC.
“The CRC told me it was worth paying the full [3,500 Ringgit] fee because it would guarantee me a place on the resettlement list,” said Ko Aung, who spoke on condition of a pseudonym.
The Malaysian government has cooperated with the UNHCR on humanitarian grounds since 1975 even though Malaysia has not signed the “UN Convention Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees.” Burmese refugees have since been sent to third countries including the United States, Canada, Australia, France, New Zealand, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Norway.
According to the Malaysia UNHCR website at the end of August, there are some 90,300 refugees and asylum-seekers registered with their office; of which about 83,000, or 90 percent, are from Burma. Of that number, about 38,500 are Chins, 19,700 are Rohingyas, 7,400 are Burmese Muslims, 3,900 are Mon, and 3,500 are Kachins or from other smaller ethnic minorities.