REFUGEE advocate Heidi Quah hopes to use her experience working with refugees in Malaysia to help develop well-balanced national policies that will address the problems affecting the community.

Quah, who announced her membership in DAP today, said she believes the party can serve as a platform to raise awareness of the status and condition of the hundreds of thousands of refugees in Malaysia.

Topping her list of concerns is the difficulty that refugee children face in obtaining basic education, a problem she intends to address with policy-makers as soon as she can.

“We want opportunities to send these kids to government schools and integrate these refugee communities into local communities, and see how local communities can better support them,” the 24-year-old said at a press conference today.

“We believe the refugee community has plenty of skills to offer and plenty of values to pass on as well,” she said.

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, there are about 157,580 refugees and asylum-seekers registered with UNHCR in Malaysia as of May this year.

The Malaysia government has not ratified the 1951 Refugee Convention, and there is currently no national refugee law that defines their rights and status, leaving many of them in limbo while living in the country.

This leaves many refugees, who are forced to work illegally to support their families, open to abuse and exploitation by employers.

Quah said that there were currently 40,200 refugees in Malaysia below the age of 18 who were denied proper education due to their refugee status.

She set up civil group Refuge for The Refugees some six years ago, and for her efforts was awarded the Queen’s Young Leaders medal from Queen Elizabeth II in June last year.

She was Malaysia’s sole recipient of the prestigious award, which came in recognition of her work aiding refugees in the country.

Quah said that she also wanted to deal with other issues such as migrant workers, sex trafficking, and women involved in prostitution, but said that society needed to be properly educated before policy could be effective.

“A lot of times, there are different parties who want to make changes, but they don’t know exactly what’s happening on the ground. The first thing is definitely education and understanding what’s happening.”

She told reporters she decided to join DAP after deliberating on it for a year.

“I’ve chosen to join DAP because I  strongly believe in all the values the party stands for, a party that runs on the principles of human rights, equality, social, and economic justice,” she said.

Segambut MP Hannah Yeoh, who was present at the press conference, said Quah’s membership in DAP would help to create greater awareness among young Malaysians of the issues affecting the country.

“It’s a call for young people, if they want to take another step and not just work in a civil group. If they want to help in legislation, for example, then joining a political party is the next step,” Yeoh said. – June 20, 2018.