Rohingya refugee: Here's one man's story

This was confirmed by one Rohingya national, Ismail Ayob, 32 who told Astro AWANI how he was brought into the country.

In the interview which took place at Shahab Perdana bus terminal in Alor Setar, Ismail said he had entered Malaysia in 2006 through a syndicate which promised him a high salary.

After his village was torched down and villagers killed, Ismail who also lost all contacts with his siblings, followed an agent who promised to get him to Malaysia.

He then took a boat, together with few passengers and left to Bangkok, Thailand where he stayed in an empty house with five more Bangladeshi refugees for three days.

They were then brought to Padang Besar border in a car after paying the agent between RM2,000 and RM3,000 where they managed to slip into the country, unnoticed by the authorities.

Ismail was then taken to Penang in a car with another agent, where he stayed at a house in the state, working as a construction worker for RM40 a day.

“I feel cheated because I was promised a job as a cleaner with a higher salary but I ended up working as a construction worker now,” he told Astro AWANI.

Fearing arrests by the authorities, he had applied for a UNHCR card, which he received in2007.

Ismail today lives with wife and two children, with all of them holding UNCHR cards.

Checks revealed that many Rohingya refugees are keeping a low profile following the Kedah Immigration’s widespread operation in arresting the refugees.