The Burmese Rohingya community in Malaysia are urging the government to recognise them as refugees as it is a matter of life and death for them.

"Please tell me where can I go if I am not given documentation?" asked a Rohingnya community leader yesterday when commenting on Home Minister Azmi Khalid's statement that the government has yet to decide on their status.

Zafar Ahmead, president of Burma Ethnic Rohingya Community Services, said the imminent crack down on illegal immigrants here will badly affect the Rohingya community if no decision is made quickly.

"The safety of the Rohingyas will be threatened again. We Rohingyas cannot go back to our country. We will be shot dead if we go back. Where can we go?" he said.

Last month, Minister in Prime Minister's Department Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz announced that the government will recognise Burmese Muslims or Rohingyas as refugees.

The move was welcomed by several quarters including the United Nation High Commissioner for Refugees ( UNHCR ).

However, the fate of the Rohingyas was cast into limbo again following Azmi's statement on Monday.

The Rohingyas are a distinct ethnic group that has been rendered stateless by the Burmese junta. Back home, they face forceful eviction, relocation and confiscation of property. They have been seeking refuge in Malaysia since the 1980s.

Humanitarian grounds

Zafar urged the Malaysian government to recognise them based on humanitarian grounds.

"Please sympathise with us. If we don't have a status, we cannot get jobs, nobody will rent us a place to stay.

"Please tell me what can I eat and how do I move? I would rather be dead." said Zafar, who has been arrested 10 times, since he arrived in Malaysia 12 years ago.

Meanwhile, director of the Rohingya Information Center (RIC) Sawmee Ullah said the community is still hopeful that the Malaysian government will grant them refugee status.

"I am still hopeful that the Malaysian government will sympathise with Rohingyas in Malaysia, as we are stranded here due to the denial of citizenship status in Burma.

"We have no place to go, or to return," he added in an e-mail communique.

Sawmee said if the Rohingyas are not recognised as refugees, the impact would be 'unpredictable and tremendous'.

"Moreover, we would be languish in detention camps with uncertainty of deportation. As such, all Malaysians should support the move to recognize Rohingyas as temporary refugees until democracy (returns) in Burma," he added.

According to UNHCR, there are some 10,000 Rohingyas in Malaysia.