Malaysia ought to recognize and protect Burmese refugees and asylum seekers, to demonstrate its tough foreign policy stance towards military-ruled Burma, urged a human rights organisation today.

Malaysia said yesterday it agreed with other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) not to defend Burma at the international fora for its failure to exhibit democratic reforms in the country.

To demonstrate its hard foreign policy line, Malaysia should provide protection to Burmese refugees and asylum seekers, who are the very people suffering under Burma’s oppressive military regime, said the Chin Human Rights Organisation (CHRO) today.

CHRO, in a statement released today said Malaysia’s domestic policy fails to provide any sort of protection to the tens and thousands of Burmese refugees who have fled to Malaysia after being forced out of their homes by the Burmese military regime.

The statement further said Burmese communities in Malaysia have been regular targets of security abuses, immigration raids and round-ups, increasing violent crimes committed with impunity, and abuses against the most vulnerable members of its community, including women and children.

“Immigration raids targeting Burmese communities occur on an almost weekly basis in Malaysia, typically conducted by the highly controversial, untrained and often abusive Peoples’ Volunteer Corp., also known as RELA,” the statement added.

Despite being a signatory to the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and a sitting member of the UN Human Rights Council, there are at least 20 Burmese children, some as young as less than a month old, and five pregnant women languishing in Malaysian detention centres, CHRO said.

The CHRO urged Malaysia that in order to live up to its foreign policy initiatives towards the Burmese military regime, it must first look at it domestically and fulfill its promises to respect the basic human rights of Burmese refugees and asylum seekers.