Chin Refugee Beaten to Death in Malaysia

06 April 2012: Chin refugee Pu Sang Hre succumbed to his serious injuries at Chowkit Hospital in Malaysia after being violently attacked on Wednesday in Jalan Imbi, a neighborhood populated by many Chin refugees.

The 31-year-old father of three children was found lying ‘unconscious’ in front of Imbi Yangon Restaurant around 6pm on 4 April and was taken to hospital by the Malaysian police, according to sources from Chin refugees.

“We still haven’t got any details as to what actually happened and who got involved in this fatal incident. We heard that he was coming to Imbi to pick up a parcel, from Puchong Puteri block where he lived with his wife and 6-year-old daughter,” a member of the Chin refugee community told Chinland Guardian.

Other sources claimed that Pu Sang Hre was seen sitting and drinking with his Chin friends in the Yangon Restaurant in the evening.

“His friends, who went home around 5pm, asked him too but Pu Sang Hre stayed on in the restaurant. And Burmese staff working in the restaurant attacked him,” a close friend of the Chin victim was quoted as saying.

Pu Sang Hre had serious injuries in his liver, which was internally damaged, and the back of his neck was badly wounded, according to the doctors from the hospital in Kuala Lumpur.

Another source close to the restaurant said that Pu Sang Hre was attacked by two people from Burma.

“The Malaysian police visited the scene around 8pm yesterday to conduct an investigation but we don’t know what will happen next,” said the Chin resident from Imbi.

The Chin Christian Fellowship (CCF) in Puchong held a funeral service for Pu Sang Hre at Sg. Buloh cemetery today.

Arriving in Malaysia in 2009, Pu Sang Hre, originally of Zaangtlang village, Thantlang Township of Chin State, was registered as a refugee by the UNHCR in Malaysia.

Reporting by Thawng Zel Thang
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