Long-Detained Refugees Reunite With Family

29 August 2010: Shing Aung Ling, 24, and Kee Aung Thang, 26, who were arrested on the Thai-Malaysian border and detained at different detention camps, had today a happy reunion with family members, relatives and friends in Malaysia.

The two Chin refugees fleeing military-ruled Burma were released last Thursday after having spent 9 and 7 months respectively in the Malaysian immigration detention camps. The two were arrested together with other 10 refugees while crossing the Thai border en route to Malaysia.

A member of CRC (Chin Refugee Committee) told Chinland Guardian: “We all are very happy to meet them [Shing Aung Ling and Kee Aung Thang] here in our office. After staying with us for two days, they went to see their families living at different places outside of Kuala Lumpur.”

“As they were just released, their skin colours were dark and looking unhealthy. They are not very strong mentally as they had been going through difficult times at different detention camps near the border, which we cannot reach from the capital,” continued the CRC member who talked to the two Chin refugees.

Shing Aung Ling, from Sungtawng village, and Kee Aung Thang, from Muitui village, of Mindat Township in Southern Chin State were arrested on 24 November 2009 and 4 January 2010 respectively.

Kee Aung Ling escaped from the hands of human-trafficking agents by jumping off a moving motorbike heading toward a deep forest on the Malaysia-Thailand border where traffickers are known to operate. After hiding in the cane fields for two days, he was arrested by the local Malaysian authorities in a small village and handed over to the police.

Hundreds of Chin refugees still remain in detention camps in Malaysia, according to CRC.

Van Biak Thang
[email protected]