THEY left Vietnam to escape the war. They landed in Malaysia. More than 20 years later, they are successful restaurant owners in Kuala Terengganu.

There are about 10 places to eat in the capital of Terengganu, some fancy and others roadside stalls. Business is good. 

Jawariah Halim, 43, told The Malaysian Insight how she fled Vietnam with family in 1991 in search of a better life in Malaysia.

Jawariah has been through many ups and downs and many of her business ventures have ended in failure.

In 2020, she opened a restaurant called Pho Viet in Kuala Terengganu, which turned out to be a hit.

She had saved up the money for the business by selling Vietnamese coffee and spring rolls at a food court 

“It’s true my life is full of challenges, but I have never blamed my mother for bringing us here.

“When I think back, my mother was right to decide to live in Malaysia.”

Coming to Malaysia

Jawariah said she came to Malaysia when she was 12 and her sister was two.

“At the time, we were staying in a Muslim village in Vietnam. My parents owned a jewellery and clothing store.

“When the war started, my parents were determined to take us out of the country and come to Malaysia.

“We didn’t bring anything with us, except gold, which we used to pay the people who housed us on our way to Malaysia.

“My father was arrested by a soldier while we were running away but my mother and my sister and I got away,” she said.

Jawariah said they were helped by a Cambodian agent whom they paid RM150,000 in gold.

The journey to Malaysia took almost three months and they had to cross the borders of Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand, Jawariah said.

“We rode motorbikes, trains, ships and walked for days though jungles.

“We went through so much, especially in Cambodia as we were worried that we would be killed by Pol Pot’s army.

“My sister was given sleeping pills for half a month because we didn’t want the Cambodian soldiers to know we were Vietnamese refugees.

“There were also days we did not eat because the food given by the villagers in Cambodia was not halal.”

After two months, they finally reached Malaysia and were placed in a camp in Cherating, Terengganu.

Pulau Bidong

In 1979, Malaysia set up a camp on Pulau Bidong for Vietnamese refugees.

The island housed 254,534 Vietnamese refugees until 1991, when it was closed.

Jawariah said at the time, Cherating housed Muslim Vietnamese refugees while the non-Muslims called Pulau Bidong home.

Jawariah and her family lived in the Cherating camp for a year, before it was closed.

“When we left the camp, the Malaysian government gave us RM300 to help us build a life.

“We were given permanent resident status. With the RM300, my mother rented a house for us to live in,” she recalled.

The balance was then used by her mother to sell brooches outside Payang Market for three years, she said.

“We had a very hard life then. Imagine, we had nothing to our names. My mother had no choice but to rent because that is all we could afford.

“That was the only space we had to live and eat. There were many nights where we cried reminiscing about the good life we had in Vietnam and the hardships we were facing here.

“My grandmother even called and asked us to return but my mother refused,” she said.

Jawariah explained that her mother didn’t want to leave because the Islamic teachings here were stronger compared to Vietnam.

“In Vietnam, we were not a majority so the teachings were not stringent.

“Although life here was hard, my mother was determined to stay on.”

She was, however, able to reunite with her father after leaving the Cherating camp.

The war also deprived her of an education, Jawariah said.

“I got married at 17 and divorced at 20. Our family was doing better by then.

“I opened a bridal boutique but I closed it to become a translator for Vietnamese fishermen in Terengganu.”

In 2012, she was robbed and had no choice but to declare bankruptcy.

“After that I didn’t do any business and moved to Kuala Lumpur due to the trauma. In 2014, I opened a shop selling head scarves in Masjid India from money I had gotten from selling the house in Terengganu.

“But due to the various demonstrations at the time, I lost a lot of money and had to close down.”

Despite numerous failures, she decided to open her restaurant due to the popularity of Vietnamese food in Malaysia.

“In 2018, I returned to Terengganu and sold spring rolls. I told my children that I wanted to open a stall, which I did in a food court.

“But we had to leave when the management of the food court did not allow us to sell more than one item.”

She opened Pho Viet with the money she .

Asked if she had faced racism in Malaysia, Jawariah said that was only in the early days.

“When we first arrived,  there were many people who did not like us and looked down on refugees.

“After that, the people here accepted us,” Jawariah, who has three children, said.

“I planned a lot for my restaurant. I want to open an outlet in Kuala Lumpur next.” – February 16, 2022.