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Rohingya children in Malaysia, an undocumented life

Rohingya children in Malaysia grow up stateless in the country where many of them were born.

Rohingya children in Malaysia /Please Do Not Use
Khatiza is the one-day-old daughter of Azara. Her mother gave birth to her in the house of another Rohingya family who took in Azara's family of five when Azara's husband fell ill and they could no longer afford to pay rent. Khatiza did not receive any medical care, as her parents do not have ID cards. The family arrived from Myanmar four years ago and Khatiza is their first child born in Malaysia. [Al Jazeera]
By Alexandra Radu
Published On 20 Jun 2016

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Many of the approximately 150,000 (PDF) Rohingya who live in Malaysia came here hoping to be relocated to other countries through UNHCR programmes, but some of them have made Malaysia their home, despite the fact that they have no legal status and face many hardships as a result.

Many Rohingya refugee children are born in Malaysia, and remain stateless owing to the undocumented status of their parents.

According to Chia Wei, founder of The Berani Project, the main consequences of this undefined status and lack of identification documents is that the children are “cut off [from] the basic child’s rights to education [and] healthcare.”

The Berani Project is a social enterprise advocating and creating opportunities for the Rohingya communities and other marginalised people in Kuala Lumpur. Wei explains that “many [children] are forced to work from a young age to help their families”.

“The Rohingya, as most of them are undocumented, live in fear of being detained, arrested or deported,” explains Ustaz Rafik, a leader of the Rohingya community in Selayang, on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur.

“The thought of risks like being harassed, abducted, detained, will discourage the parents from sending their children to school,” he says. As a result Rohingya refugee children spend their childhoods in their neighbourhoods, and almost never leave their community.

The children attend community schools funded by donations, where they learn about religion, the Malay language, and other literacy basic skills. Some of the schools offer longer daily schedules to help parents who work.

Nazri Mazlan, a teacher at “Floating Children” School for Rohingya children, says the children face many challenges. “The primary issue with education is the lack of reinforcement from home. We can teach the children but if what they are taught is not reinforced by the families of the community the children will see little value in the lessons.”

READ MORE: Rohingya refugee – we were hunted down by mob in Myanmar

Rohingya children in Malaysia /Please Do Not Use
About 200 Rohingya live in basic houses in the Batu Caves area. Kamal Husin, left, a 15-year-old teenager, lives with his parents along with a family of seven. Like most of the Rohingya children, he attends a madrasa, a religious community school, near his house. [Al Jazeera]
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Rohingya children in Malaysia /Please Do Not Use
Students attend class at the Pelangi Kasih community school in Batu Caves area, in the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Most of the Rohingya children in Malaysia study at community schools not accredited by education authorities. The teaching in these schools is oriented towards religious studies and basic knowledge of English and Malay. [Al Jazeera]
Rohingya children in Malaysia /Please Do Not Use
At Pelangi Kasih community school, girls sleep in a classroom during the lunch break. The school, opened in March, provides education for 150 of the 300 children in the community. The children are in school from 8am to 5pm, and receive a basic lunch meal. [Al Jazeera]
Rohingya children in Malaysia /Please Do Not Use
Children at the Rohingya Education Center community school in Klang, on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, watch a cartoon during a break. The children who graduate from community schools cannot attend national exams as they do not have proper identification documents. Their UNHCR refugee identification card is not sufficient for government school admission. [Al Jazeera]
Rohingya children in Malaysia /Please Do Not Use
Seven-year-old Jamal does not speak the Malay language, so the teacher at the 'Floating children' community school cannot teach him English, maths, reading or writing. Nevertheless, he attended class daily for a few months, following his friends and playing during class, until his family moved away to another neighbourhood. [Al Jazeera]
Rohingya children in Malaysia /Please Do Not Use
Husin Amo is two months old and was born in a Rohingya community close to Batu Caves, at the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur. He was born in a hospital in the area and needed gastric surgery soon after being born. At the time of his birth his father was in Immigration Detention because he didn't have ID documents. The hospitalisation costs for mother and baby were paid for by private donations. Because undocumented Rohingya have no access to state healthcare services, the costs for them are the same as for any foreigner living in Malaysia. [Al Jazeera]
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Haslina, centre, is an 18-year-old Rohingya single mother of two children, aged 1 and 3. She was born in Malaysia, her children are second generation, born here. Her husband left her and he gives her $12 a week for the children. She and her children live with a friend. Her friend, who is also a single mother, took them in to live with her family of nine. [Al Jazeera]
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Students attend a class at the Pelangi Kasih community school in Batu Caves area. [Al Jazeera]
Rohingya children in Malaysia /Please Do Not Use
Abu Siddiq holds his two-year-old son Abu Tolob in their house in the Rohingya community in the Batu Caves area at the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur. [Al Jazeera]
Rohingya children in Malaysia /Please Do Not Use
Majidah is nine. She is the only girl regularly attending classes at the Floating Children school in the Cheras Rohingya community. Currently, only seven of about 30 children in the community attend the school regularly, for two hours a day. They learn writing, maths, English and Malay through interactive quizzes. [Al Jazeera]
Rohingya children in Malaysia /Please Do Not Use
Riding their teacher's car from school back to their homes after class is a fun activity the children at the Floating Children school never miss. Most of their parents don't have cars because they cannot obtain driver's licences. [Al Jazeera]
Rohingya children in Malaysia /Please Do Not Use
Ramjan scores during a basketball game with the students at UCSI International School during a field trip with his school, Floating Children community school. During their field trips the children discover the world outside their neighbourhood, visit other schools, and learn about nature or the city. [Al Jazeera]
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Majidah, one of the Rohingya children from the Floating Children community school in Cheras, rides a slide during the school's monthly field trip to UCSI International School in Subang, a suburb of Kuala Lumpur. [Al Jazeera]
Rohingya children in Malaysia /Please Do Not Use
A Rohingya child carries bags of food received at the monthly food donation organised by MyWelfare, a Rohingya community-based NGO in Selayang, on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur. About 500 families in the Selayang Rohingya community receive rice, sugar, oil and other basic foods from donations every month. Community-based NGOs are the main advocates for the Rohingya needs. [Al Jazeera]