Today we get news that 60 asylum-seeking Rohingyas set fire to a camp in Malasia after being rebuffed for third country resettlement by the UN. These Burmese Muslims have been admitted to Canada and we know that the US is considering admitting them, or perhaps already has.
Here is the entire article from BBC News this week:
More than 60 immigrants from Burma have set fire to a building at a Malaysian detention camp after their request for asylum was refused.
The migrants – who claim refugee status – torched the administration building of the camp in the central state of Negeri Sembilan, according to police.
More than 200 security personnel were called in, but there were no injuries.
Police said some detainees grew angry when they were not selected by the UN for entry to a third country.
About 800 men and more than 200 women had been housed at the Lenggeng detention centre, but they have now been moved to other camps. The authorities said the rioters would be charged with arson.
Disputed status
Malaysia does not recognise political refugees and asylum seekers, and treats them as illegal immigrants, who if caught are detained and can be caned and deported.
But the UNHCR is allowed to send refugees to a third country.
It says around 39,000 registered refugees live in Malaysia, most of them from nearby Burma.
Of the total, about 13,000 are members of Burma’s Rohingya Muslim minority, and another 12,000 are members of other minority ethnic groups.
The Rohingyas arrived in Malaysia in the 1990s, but the Burmese government disputes their origin and refuses to let them return to Burma.
See our coverage of Rohingyas here. I’ve been wondering if the murder suspect in the rape and murder case of the little Burmese Karen girl in Utah is Rohingya, but no one is talking.