My neighbours
My neighbourhood is a melting pot of multi-racial, multi-status people. Malaysia is a multi-racial country, we've the Chinese, Malays, Indians and Sikhs. But now I cannot tell who are those in my neighbourhood anymore. Our society is now much more diversified than before, and includes the refugees, migrants, asylum-seekers and many stateless children. This is the reality of the global migrant and refugee crisis. It affects everybody. The local communities will also feel the social and economic impact of large refugee and migrant populations in our country. The fact is Malaysia is not a signatory of the 1951 Refugee Convention. Thus, the refugee and asylum-seeker groups do not have any fundamental rights, no protection and no assistance. There's no formal registration. They cannot work, move around freely, go to schools, seek medical care and have no housing. They're open to much abuse and exploitation by the authorities as well as the local communities. They can on