Boat people dilemma

The civil war in Vietnam ended 20 years ago, but its impact persists even to this day with Vietnamese boat people still posing major problems to some of the Asian countries which have accommodated them for years.

The boat people, a term used to refer to the 1.6 million people who fled South Vietnam for fear of the communist regime of North Vietnam, which came out the victor in the civil war, have clashed with officials of the countries where they have taken refuge, albeit temporary, time and again.

The latest incident stirred by the boat people took place last Monday at the Sungai Besi refugee camp on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur. As many as 4,000 Vietnamese broke out of the camp and demanded fresh talks with refugee officials over their fate.

All but 135 of the 4,785 boat people at the Sungai Besi camp have been denied status as refugees and are therefore facing deportation to Vietnam. To quell the mass protest, Malaysian police had to use tear gas and water cannons to force the Vietnamese back into the camp.

Although the desperate boat people threatened to commit mass suicide if attacked by the police during the protest, only two were hospitalized after they stabbed themselves to show that they really meant business and were not just bluffing. Thirteen others were injured and 20 were arrested in the aftermath of Monday's protest.

What we can learn from the incident is that handling refugees is not an easy matter, especially in this information era, in which one country's decision can be made known worldwide in just a matter of minutes.

What triggered the riot in Kuala Lumpur, according to an official of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is the United States congressional bill which calls for the rescreening of the 41,500 boat people in Asian camps.

The bill, currently being debated, has raised hope among the boat people across Asia of possible resettlement in third countries rather than deportation to Vietnam. Thinking that they might have a new chance, the boat people have stepped up their resistance to being repatriated.

Although the bill is designed to help the boat people on humanitarian grounds, it nevertheless, as one U.S. embassy official in Kuala Lumpur said, "is killing voluntary repatriation and raising hopes prematurely".

Taking all of this into consideration, as well as the fact that the boat people, for reasons of culture, economy and security, have become a burden to the countries which provide them camps pending resettlement or deportation to their country of origin, we think it is wise for the UNHCR to adopt a new approach to quickly settle the boat people problem once and for all.

In that way, the refugee issue will not remain an unreasonable burden for the Asian countries, such as Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Hong Kong, where the boat people take refuge.

The longer the problem remains unresolved the more volatile it becomes, thereby threatening the stability of the countries accommodating the boat people.