PENANG, 10 July 2015 – Development for the Rohingya children in the aspects as human resources and in their education would need to continue based on humanitarian grounds as well as a sign of solidarity and showing concern for their future.

Secretary of the Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) Persatuan Staf Islam (PSI), who is also the Project Director of the Iftar with Rohingya Children Convoy (KIBAR) 2.0, Ustaz Zayd Zhari, 38, said this when presenting ‘duit raya’ and contributions for Hari Raya at the Rohingya Education Centre (REC), Taman Arowana, Seberang Jaya, here recently.

He said that these children need to be assisted for them to better understand the importance of education and the struggle that they have to go through to continue with life, besides changing the living conditions of their families in the future.

"This activity is part of the community engagement programme organised by PSI-USM which is aimed to introduce the efforts made ​​by the Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) to help the Rohingya children in getting proper education,” added Zayd, who is also the Officer for Islamic Affairs, USM Islamic Centre.

Zayd explained, the efforts of the NGO should be given the support it needed as it can also bring about an awareness to the community concerning their lives and the rights of human beings for protection, safety and education, as that is the message of the religion.

Meanwhile, PSI-USM chairperson Associate Professor Dr. Roslan Ahmad, 55, said, the volunteerism and community engagement programme would be continued to allow other members of PSI to be more aware and better understand those who are less fortunate around them.

He added that the problem concerning the repression of ethnic Rohingyas is getting worse because they are not acknowledged by the government of Myanmar as its citizens and are facing ongoing sentiments of hatred in that country, therefore in this blessed month, the PSI-USM group has taken the initiative to organise this programme to provide some joy to them.

"With this modest contribution, we hope to provide some cheer to the Rohingya children who are in need, besides spreading the awareness amongst us to be more appreciative of the peacefulness and abundance in our lives," said the PSI-USM chairperson, who also lectures at the School of Mechanical Engineering USM.

One of the teachers from the REC, Nasriah Awang, 49, said this community needs to be assisted in their effort to provide proper education because without education, these children cannot afford to rebuild their minority group in the future.

"Although they come from different backgrounds, it is not an obstacle for us to continue to educate these children to be useful individuals, for them to help their minority group in the future," she added.

According to her, some of these Rohingya children can communicate well in Bahasa Melayu as most of them were born in this country, while the rest had just arrived and are not able to communicate in the native language, but in less than six months, they would be able to communicate well.

PSI-USM member Mohd Hadzri Abdullah, 54, said that he was happy to be together to share the beauty of Ramadhan with the Rohingya children and he hoped that the outside community will continue to appreciate the peacefulness and are always grateful with what we have.

"We hope that such programmes would continue to be organised to raise the awareness of the community on the issues relating to the community or global affairs," said the Assistant Science Officer at the School of Biological Sciences further.

Meanwhile, one of the children at REC, Shahida, 11, said that she was grateful to be able to stay in Malaysia and study with other friends here and also able to set a dream of becoming a teacher to help her unfortunate family.

Her friend, Intan Nur Kamelia, 8, said she was happy because the teachers at REC provided her a lot of help especially in school subjects other than her friends here.

The programme, which has been organised in its second year, is intended to celebrate the Rohingya refugee children currently in this country, as a sign of solidarity and as a show of concern by PSI-USM. The event involved 150 students who were chosen from a total of 250 students, 15 teachers and administrators along with 35 members of PSI-USM.

Translation: Sharifah Zafirah/Text: Siti Naquiah Abdillah/Photo: Mohd Azrul Mohd Azhar