Former Vietnamese refugees hold reunion

Fadli, The Jakarta Post/Galang Island

Melissah Ghew's face shone on Thursday when she arrived at the former Vietnamese refugee camp on Galang island, Batam city, the Riau Islands, where she lived for a year with her parents.

"I don't remember many places here now, but I'm happy that I can meet other refugees from our former camp," Melissah, who made the trip with about 150 other former refugees, told The Jakarta Post.

Some 250,000 Vietnamese refugees lived in the refugee camp on Galang island from 1976 to 1996, before being sent to Australia, Canada, Switzerland and the U.S.

Melissah, 40, arrived at the camp with her parents and other refugees in 1979. She was too young at the time to understand much about the conflict in her home country Vietnam.

"My family left Galang in 1980 for Australia. There, we got good jobs and better living conditions," said Melissah, who now works at a pharmaceutical import company in Sydney.

This return visit to Galang was arranged by the Singapore- based Bold Express logistics agent, in cooperation with the Batam Authority Board, which manages the former refugee camp.

Of the 150 former refugees who made the trip to Galang, 40 came from the U.S. while the rest came from Australia, Canada, Switzerland and France. Thirty of the former refugees lived in the camp on Galang island, while the rest lived in a camp on Bidong island in Trengganu, Malaysia.

Bold Express managing director YK Wong said a reunion of refugees was held on Bidong island in 2003 since most of the refugees never heard about Galang island after they left.

He said he finally learned about the refugee camp on Galang from an article in the Post, which ran a story about a former employee of the camp.

"The article was also read by some Vietnamese living in Australia. They asked me to find the location of the island and hold a reunion here," YK Wong said.

The reunion, according to Thich Quay BA, who traveled to Galang from California, is intended to strengthen the bonds between the former Vietnamese refugees.

"This reunion will also allow us to visit the graves of relatives who were buried in refugee camps like those on Bidong island in Malaysia and Galang island in Indonesia," said Thich Quay BA.

The reunion was marked by the unveiling of a plaque expressing the refugees' gratitude to the Indonesian government, and a visit to a cemetery on the island where Vietnamese refugees were buried.