Malaysia has been urged to grant Filipino Muslim (Moro) refugees who have sought refuge in Sabah for over 30 years permanent resident (PR) status.

International practices dictate that they be given permanent status in their country of asylum, said Zakaria Abdullah, director of the Kuala Lumpur-based Bangsamoro Research Center.

The Moro community, he added, had already integrated into Malaysian society and they are reluctant to return to the armed conflict threat in their homeland of Mindanao.

"Despite there being autonomy - albeit restricted - in Mindanao, there are still some conflict areas where people cannot live in peace and that forces them to be on the run. This happens in villages where the situation is similar to 'police states'," said Zakaria.

"The Moros have been here for so long and they have adopted the local language and culture. They have raised their children here too. They are qualified for Prs."

Annual renewal

Zakaria's call came on the tail of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) officer Volker Turk's statement at a recent round-table discussions on refugee issues in Malaysia organised by the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam).

Turk also spoke of the Filipino refugees in Sabah, saying that 61,000 of them have been issued immigration cards (IMM13) which granted them temporary residency but annual renewal was required. The pass is renewed at a fee of RM90 per year.

"The UNHCR feels that ways should be explored to grant them permanent status. It is not good to return them to the situation in Mindanao," he added.

Turk said the practices in other countries was to grant refugees - who have sought asylum and lived in countries of refuge for a considerable number of years - permanent resident status, just like the Moros who have been in Sabah for over 30 years.

Fled violence

The Moros started arriving in Sabah when fighting broke out in the 1960s between separatists seeking Mindanao's independence and the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

It is believed that almost 300,000 civilians fled the unrest in the early 70s till the 80s. A large percentage have returned to Mindanao where 13 provinces have since been accorded autonomy, leaving some 65,000 left, mainly in Sabah.

Objections had been levied some months ago against suggestions to grant them PRs. Sabah's ruling coalition partner Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) cited the 'political stability' in the Philippines as reason to return the Moros.

PBS supreme council member Johnny Mositun, in expressing fears about giving Moros PRs, said that doing so would mean giving them 'similar privileges' as other Malaysians in Sabah.

"It would also enable the PR holders to venture out of Sabah and work in other parts of Malaysia," he was quoted as saying in July this year.

The political situation in Mindanao is still uncertain with the leading separatist movement, Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), in a tenuous cease-fire agreement with the Philippine government.