Kuala Lumpur -- Several Mon refugees in Malaysia are eagerly waiting to be registered by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), according to the Mon Refugee Organization (MRO) based in Kuala Lumpur.

Nai Hongsar, a social worker from Klang, said, “There are over four thousand Mon refugees who fled from southern Burma due to human rights violations and economic hardship. They have suffered from land confiscation and forced labor. We are grateful for the UNHCR mobile team, who registers a broad cross-section of refugees from different ethnic backgrounds in Burma.  Mon refugees were unable to register like this in the past, while many Chins and Rohingyas had been registered.”  Nai Hongsar fled from Ye Township, Mon State, to avoid arrest by the Burmese Army.

According to Nai Hong Mon, a Mon youth leader in Malaysia, over four thousand Mon refugees have registered with the MRO and half of them will register with the UNHCR next week.

Ong Dama, an orphaned boy who landed in Canada in June, said, “We thank the UNHCR and MRO for helping us. They work hard while we don’t know where to ask for help and have no knowledge about our rights. Many people think they will be arrested if they return home and are afraid to tell their real stories to the UNHCR.

In the meantime, many refugees from Burma face hardship in Malaysia. Some immigration officials have been accused of involvement in selling refugees to gangs in Thailand at the border. Recently, a local gang was holding Mi Nai Maw, a refugee from Mon state who was on her way to Malaysia. She was released only when her sister paid 2000 Rangit to the gang members.

As of May 2009, the UNHCR has registered about fifty thousand displaced people from Burma (Myanmar), including refugees and asylum-seekers.