This blog post was authored by Puah Sze Ning and Elroi Yee, from Dari Dapur.
Decades of civil war and the 2021 military coup in Myanmar have resulted in a new wave of refugees to Malaysia. The majority of them will remain undocumented for a prolonged period as they join the long queue of refugees waiting for refugee documentation from the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the only document that would give them some freedom of movement without fear of detention and deportation.
With support funding through MIDEQ, a few Malaysian civil society organisations (CSOs) teamed up with the Coalition of Burma Ethnics Malaysia (COBEM) to raise public awareness on the ongoing civil war in Myanmar through Dari Dapur ( ‘From the Kitchen’). Dari Dapur is an evidence-based campaign that uses conversation over food to promote positive and empowering narratives on migrant and refugee communities.
A special episode of Dari Dapur was produced featuring a former politician, Shahril Hamdan, who now helms one of Malaysia’s most popular podcast, Keluar Sekejap, together with former Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin. In the episode, Shahril meets Ahmed, a university student who recently arrived from Myanmar. Ahmed cooks for Shahril Myanmar chicken curry, a dish he learnt from his mother back in his home country.
"My biggest regret is having to leave my mother behind,” Ahmed shared with Shahril on the episode. “She is a 60-year-old patient, so she could not leave Myanmar with me.”
Earlier this year, Myanmar’s military government enforced a conscription order that led many youths to flee the country to avoid taking arms against their fellow citizens in Myanmar’s bloody civil war.
The process: A collaborative effort
Ahmed’s story is one of thousands that refugee community-based organisations (CBOs) in Malaysia hear every day. Although they are registered with the CBOs, there is little that protects them from detention and deportation without a card from the UNHCR.
“We hear of cases where those who were deported were imprisoned or killed,” James La Seng, the chairperson of COBEM shared.
“We need more people to know what’s happening in Myanmar.”
The team from Dari Dapur kickstarted the process by organising online and in-person consultations with COBEM and other Myanmar refugee CBOs. Meetings with other non-government organisations (NGOs) working with refugees also followed.
Some key decisions were made from the consultations. This included; launching the episode in the first week of October, right before the ASEAN summit and co-organising a launch event to engage with decision makers such as ministers and Members of Parliament. The key message for the episode and the launch event was “Protect New Arrivals from Myanmar”.
Other key messages included stopping deportation, speeding up UN registration or recognising CBO-issued cards, and recognising the right to work.
The consultations also paid attention to risk mitigation strategies. Some of them included not providing private information and focussing on the humanitarian aspects of the issue.
The CBOs then scouted for a suitable person to be featured in the video. After meeting with a number of candidates and explaining the safeguarding guidelines, the Dari Dapur team decided to feature Ahmed.
Amplifying the message
Dari Dapur Episode 8 was launched on 5 October in a by-invitation-only event that gathered together various stakeholders. This included representatives from Myanmar communities, Members of Parliament, lawyers, youth groups, and arts practitioners. Astro Awani, Malaysia's top news channel, also agreed to broadcast live from the event.
This particular episode serves as a starting point for many more conversations to urgently address the need for more awareness, empathy and understanding from the Malaysian public and policymakers to protect refugees from Myanmar fleeing the civil war.
In the long-term, this episode contributes towards Dari Dapur’s overarching campaign goal of seeding long-term institutional changes needed for recognising the human rights of migrants and refugees in Malaysia.
