THE Sarawak state government and Putrajaya must not try to play “hero” in the ongoing Palestinian refugee crisis by offering Sarawak as a destination for those Palestinians uprooted by Israel’s relentless attacks on the besieged Gaza territory.
The Society for Rights of Indigenous Peoples of Sarawak (Scrips) said trying to be a hero in a humanitarian crisis that is beyond the scope of locals here to handle would turn out to be a very foolish mistake that will be permanent in nature.
Its secretary general Michael Jok told The Vibes that the scale of the Palestinian refugee crisis is way beyond the capability of the state government or the federal government to deal with.
“If we look at the situation now, Sarawak is in no shape to handle a mass influx of refugees, let alone war refugees from very volatile and violent religious-political settings such as the Middle East.
“Sarawak has tens of thousands of poverty-stricken locals that the state government has not even managed to help.
“How can Sarawak offer itself as a refugee centre for the Palestinians?” he said.
“Be wise from the start, don’t be so foolish to take a hero’s role and end up having to deal with a problem that can turn into a permanent socio-political-religious threat to Sarawakians.”
He stressed that once Palestinian refugees are taken in, it would be almost impossible to transfer them out of Sarawak again without there being a humanitarian controversy.
“Sarawak, and even Malaysia, does not have the expertise or experience to deal with refugees en masse,” he said.
Jok said even states like Kelantan, Terengganu, Kedah and Perlis that are very Muslim-majority in nature have not volunteered to be refugee centres for those uprooted in Gaza.
If there are state or federal government leaders thinking they can just welcome the masses of Palestinian refugees with open arms, they must ponder if they can meet the needs of these refugees on aspects of food, housing, employment, health, education and all the other needs that will crop up.
“The Palestinian refugee crisis is too big for Sarawak or Malaysia to handle,” Jok said.
“No matter how much we sympathise with them, we can only offer aid contributions and our prayers, but we cannot take them in by the thousands,” he stressed.
Clear stance
Yesterday, Sarawak DAP chairman Chong Chien Jen, who is the Stampin MP, said the Sarawak government must take a clear stance on whether it is going to allow Palestinian refugees from war-torn Gaza to take refuge in this state.
The state government under Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) must clear the air to calm jittery nerves as the public at large wants a clear answer from the state government, not just an opinion from GPS secretary-general Datuk Seri Alexander Nanta Linggi, who is federal works minister.
“We DAP support the statement made by Nanta that we in Sarawak must not open the door to these refugees.
“Even though we sympathise with the plight of the Palestinians, accepting them into Sarawak will result in clashes of ideologies and culture and this will disrupt the existing harmony we are enjoying in Sarawak.
Nanta had said that he personally supports the stance of non-governmental bodies in Sarawak and Sabah which are against accepting the Palestinians from war-torn Gaza into the two Borneo states.
The MP for Kapit in central Sarawak did not say he was speaking on behalf of the state government.
Policies
Meanwhile, a bipartisan MP group had earlier urged the government to issue a special pass for Palestinian refugees in Malaysia that will enable them to stay and work in the country temporarily.
Syerleena Abdul Rashid, who chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group Malaysia on Refugee Policy, stressed the need to urgently “formulate policies that protect those who have sought temporary refuge on our shores, including those from Palestine”.
“We call for an immediate ceasefire, the urgent protection of civilians, the facilitation of unimpeded humanitarian aid, and the prevention of full-scale genocide in Gaza.
“(The government should also) start the implementation of the amended National Security Council Directive No. 23, which will grant temporary rights to refugees in Malaysia,” said the Bukit Bendera MP in a statement last month.
Currently, Malaysia is not a signatory to the United Nations’ 1951 Refugee Convention or the 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees.
There are some 600 Palestinian refugees and asylum-seekers registered with the UN High High Commissioner For Refugees here as of end-October, said the body.
Over 11,000 Palestinians have been killed in airstrikes launched by Israel on the Gaza Strip, while 29,000 more have been injured.
In the occupied West Bank, at least 186 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since October 7, Al Jazeera quoted the Palestinian Health Ministry as saying on Tuesday. – The Vibes, November 15, 2023
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