"Relatives have also died."Medan (ANTARA News) - Asylum seekers including the Rohingyas from Myanmar now being accommodated in Medan, North Sumatra, have asked for their dispatch to Australia or New Zealand.
One of the Rohingya refugees, M Habib (32), said here on Tuesday that he did not care where he would be taken to as the most important thing was leaving the present temporary shelter.
"For us the important thing is leaving the present shelter," he said.
He said it would all be up to the UNHCR that has so far taken care of them.
He said the Rohingyas were not interested in money but clear status and countries that are willing to assure their security.
Habib said they have so far been declared as refugees but no country has been willing to accept them after leaving conflict in their home country.
"It is impossible to return to Myanmar as his mother, brothers and sisters and other families have all left following the clash. Relatives have also died," he said.
Tens of Rohingyas recently visited the UNHCR office on Jalan Babura Lama in Medan to demand for their immediate dispatch to Australia or other countries.
Another Rohingya refugee, Zaid Husein (28) said he could not stop wondering why the UNHCR office in Medan did not care about the Myanmarese refugees living in the shelter on Pasar II, Jaln Jamin Gintin, numbering in the hundred who have been living there for four years.
Refugees from Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Iran who have stayed in the shelter for more than a year meanwhile have all asked to be sent to Australia and New Zealand.
"The UNHCR`s inaction was regrettable as the Rohingyas have long been staying in Medan and hoping to be sent to a foreign country," Husein said.
(Reporting by Munawar Mandailing, editor by Yoseph Hariyadi)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
Copyright © ANTARA 2013
