By Ted Roelofs
10/19/2005

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Below is an excerpt taken from The Grand Rapids Press:

Far from the headlines, they live in the shadows in Malaysia. Cut off from their families, hundreds of young men are afraid to return to the persecution they faced in their native Myanmar.

But they dwell in fear in Malaysia as well, exploited as virtual slave labor or forced to live in crude jungle camps as they hide from authorities.

"It is an absolutely hellish way to live," said Kavita Shukla, an advocate for Refugees International in Washington, D.C., a nonprofit advocacy agency.

Several dozen of these refugees are slated to arrive next year in Grand Rapids, reminiscent of the movement of some 200 Sudanese "Lost Boys" to West Michigan in the past few years.

...

Members of the Chin minority in Myanmar (formerly known as Burma), they faced a legacy of cultural, economic and religious persecution in their homeland.

As Christians, they routinely are harassed or jailed for practicing their faith in a Buddhist nation that has been under military dictatorship for decades. They are denied jobs and access to schools.

According to the Chin Refugee Committee, about 12,000 Chin live in Malaysia, of which 9,000 are registered with that committee. Most fled Myanmar for Thailand and made their way to Malaysia. More than 2,500 have applied to the United Nations for political asylum.