In the late 70s,Pulau Bidong was also home to Cambodians, who tried to flee the Khmer Rouge regime, Chinese-Vietnamese, who tried to escape Vietnamese Government. Cilisos Media Sdn. Fresh (drinking) water was always an issue, which had to be transported from mainland by boat. Some of the countries we currently cover are Burma, Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Macau, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. * * * * * Today, the recovery is evident as the trees which were once cut down for firewood and building material have regenerated, although some scars - a reminder to visitors of the boat people - are still evident. Another 600 refugees arrived in August and thereafter the arrival of boats from Vietnam was a near daily occurrence. The Bidong Island (Malay: Pulau Bidong, Terengganuan Pula Bidong) is an island in Kuala Nerus District, Terengganu, Malaysia in the South China Sea. Pulau Bidong Camp: Contestations for Power and Place Abstract With more than 1.6 million refugees departing from land and sea following the end of the Vietnam War (1955-1975), refugee camps emerged as part of the southeast Asian landscape for more than a decade. As people would stay longer for screening, this was the case for who arrived after March 14th, 1989, many wells were dug by the refugee to be used for bathe, cooking, and farming. The level of documentation for collection items can and does vary, dependent on when or how the item was collected. Bad sanitation, lack of foods and clean water for the overload people caused social problems and endemic diseases. With the huge number of boat people landed on the island, in August 1978 the federal government borrowed this island from the state government of Terengganu and gazetted Bidong as a refugee camp.Bidong is one square kilometer in area and is situated off the coast of Terengganu, Malaysia in the South China Sea. Wewishto preserve this heritage for present and future generations to reflect upon. To put it simply, there used to be two Vietnams: North Vietnam, which was aligned to communists, and South Vietnam, which was aligned to the Allied forces. Since we did not have any adults to protect us, we were often bullied. Similarly, some might choose to sweep this tragic story of Vietnamese refugees in Malaysia under the carpet and pretend nothing like that ever happened, but the boat people incident will always be part of Malaysia's modern history. The process of shooting / developing / printing / scanning / processing the images has not always been kind. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bidong_Island&oldid=1105891529, This page was last edited on 22 August 2022, at 07:36. The island is also known as Vietnam Island, as it was once used to keep the Vietnamese refugees during 1976 - 1991. A total of about 250,000 refugees were residents of the camp during the period of its operation. To keep up with the influx, on the 8th of August 1978 the government established a temporary camp for them on Pulau Bidong. Although this tiny island only had the capacity to accommodate for 4,500 refugees, however during some very peak seasons, it once sheltered almost 40,000 people. It has regained its former pristine beauty and many former refugees have revisited their old home. By January 1979, there were 40,000 Vietnamese on the island and by June 1979 it was said to be the most densely populated place on earth with about 40,000 refugees crowded into a flat area hardly larger than a football field.[1]. Bidong Island was officially handed back to the Terengganu state government, but remains restricted to the public until 1999. This important collection represents two sides of the asylum experience - the refugees and the government officials. For the accommodation, you only can get them on Perhentian and Rendang Island. But we don't have any choice. Since all the buildings were made of wood, they are now all on the verge of collapse under the attrition of weather and the ageing process. Some enterprising refugees had set up small businesses like bakeries and tailor shops, and in the late 80s there was a musical stage, with regular performances by both the refugees and the volunteers. Like a harmonious neighborhood, the "villagers" built their church adjacent to a Buddhist temple, both structures still standing today. Conditions on Bidong were difficult. Vietnamese Heritage Museum Please tell us how you intend to reuse this image. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Immigration officials from many countries visited the island to interview refugees for resettlement abroad. No visitors were allowed on or around the islands. The island has a sad history, but it was also the beginning of a. Many of the blogs weve found spoke of their time on the island fondly, but in reality. Being humane has not paid off for us at all All we are getting is a further inflow of Vietnamese illegal immigrants, and we have every right to expel them. Tun Mahathir, in 1979, as reported by the New York Times. Including in the water. They were called boat people. However, the number of boat people fleeing Vietnam was relatively small until 1978. was officially opened as a refugee camp on August 8th, 1978 with 121 Vietnamese refugees. A refugee child on Bidong. Bidong Island in Malaysia is a unique destination to choose as it doesnt offer too beautiful scenery, wonderful BIdong Island sunrise and fun activities to do but it has the interesting history to learn. As a young girl, I remember staring at the refugees staying at the Sungei Besi Refugee camp. Post-Vietnam War Refugees After the fall of Saigon in April 1975, people started fleeing from Vietnam in boats, arriving in Malaysia, Thailandand Indonesia after crossing the dangerous and pirated Gulf of Thailand. An international volunteer staff of medical personnel tended to the refugee's health problems. No incident encountered (pirates, oil rigs, foreign ships, etc.). Whether that is fact or fiction is immaterial. Although I was very reluctant to leave for obvious reasons, my parents insisted. Outside this mini Saigon was a Malaysian police station, a Red Cross hospital and UNHCR schools - kindergarten, primary and vocational. In their free time, the adults occupied themselves with vocational training, volunteering, hanging out at coffee shops (which sometimes played Indian and Chinese movies), soccer, and sepak raga (which they learned from the police), and there were mentions of chambers dug underground for when the adults need some privacy. A beauty of Tioman Island Malaysia never forgets this place! Traveling in the open sea in monsoon season in an overcrowded boat was a harrowing experience. But kinds of the organization came to give aids and solved the problems of the refugees until they can have the better life, good health facility, school, and even entertainments. As our boat approached the island to dock, we were given a warm, yet strange welcome by other survivors. This incident became known as one of the worlds biggest humanitarian crises, and the Vietnamese refugees were known as the Vietnamese Boat People, or Orang Vietnam Hanyut (OVH) in Malaysia. You can also find some old buildings and cemeteries, remnants of the refugees that once stayed there. This will help us to understand whats popular and why so that we can continue to improve access to the collections. As weve said before, the Bidong camp was just a temporary thing until the world can figure out what to do with the refugees, but Malaysia did not plan to keep up with so many. [5], United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, http://www.terengganutourism.com/pulau_bidong.htm, http://makmalberpusat.umt.edu.my/?page_id=65. In the early stages, the refugees, some with nothing except the clothes on their backs, ate anything they could find on the island including monkeys, frogs and squirrels. If something is not done about Pulau Bidong, and soon, it will fast become nothing more than a ghost island. The photographer was Lachlan Kennedy, who was a member of the Australian Department of Immigration Indo-Chinese Refugee Taskforce, from January-September 1981 during the aftermath of the Vietnam War. To ensure the better living condition, long houses were built with schools, workshops, post office, church, temple, tailors, hair salons, bakery, noodle shops, sundry shops, even disco and bar etc. There were 99 peoples (wasn't known until arrival) on a 14 meters wooden boat, powered by very reliable a 4-cilynder diesel engine. Santa Ana, CA 92799. Conditions on the island were crowded, with poor sanitation and housing, but the refugee population themselves were well organised, aid organisations were well-represented and representatives from re-settlement countries frequently visited. Img by John Isaac, obtained from LoyarBurok. Bidong island was a refugee camp for the South Vietnamese boat people who escaped from communisms from the Vietnam war. Doctors were abundant, but medicine was in short supply. Often, they left Vietnam in overcrowded, derelict boats not meant for seafaring, and besides facing dehydration and starvation, the monsoon made their journey even more dangerous. Long-houses and offices made from wood from the local forest were built and the boat people were provided with better basic needs and amenities such as food, schools, workshops, electricity and water. Over 100,000 people arrived in May and June 1979, flooding the refugee camps The UN described the situation as the worst refugee crisis since the Second World War. Mike Molloy, an author of Running on Empty: Canada and the Indochinese Refugees, 1975-1980, taken from CBC. Pulau Bidong is like a gem in the South China Sea waiting for the right time for its potential to be realized. "[2] But the refugee population was well organised and many small businesses and an efficient food and water distribution system was set up. BOX 27372 ThingsAsian is an Asia travel website with stories contributed by a worldwide community. Refugees. The kids, on the other hand, were kept busy by school, church, temple, and Boy Scouts activities. Organized a day trip to Pulau Bidong, a former refugee camp, with local teachers and community members. The condition was very terrible in the early days of the huge refugees on the island. The UNHCR and International Red Cross was on hand to protect the safety of the refugees, then gazetted as a protected area by the Malaysian government. By the time Bidong was closed as a refugee camp on October 30, 1991, about 250,000 Vietnamese had passed through or resided in the camp. Despite having my sister to take care of me, I missed my family terribly. Landed in the Malaysian shore at about 11:30pm , about 1 hour bus ride from Marang Transit Camp, with about 100 liters of diesel left. The refugees strongly protested their forced repatriation. But even though there used to be so much on the island, practically everything had rotted away or were vandalized. Doctors were abundant, but medicine was in short supply. 1980 -1981 Pulau Bidong Refugee camp sketches - La Toan Vinh About Us The Vietnamese Heritage Museum (VHM) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to the preservation and exhibition of our Vietnamese refugees' heritage. These shots are from the time I spent on Pulau Bidong, Malaysia, in 1985. They took only what was most important to them. In addition, the governments of Malaysia and other Southeast Asian countries discouraged refugees from landing on their shores. Covered all the pantai. The passage from Vietnam was hazardous and the refugee boats were small, overloaded, and often attacked by pirates. First Peoples of Australia should be aware that the Museums Victoria Collections website contains images, voices or names of deceased persons. Pulau Bidong Refugee Camp 1978 - 1991, Malaysia: Current News Home Thailand Koh Kra: Hell on Earth Songkhla Laem Sing; Malaysia Pulau Bidong Pulau Tengah; . It was a risky thing to do, but they were desperate, as recounted by former refugees and their children. BY Water was rationed at one gallon per day per person. Because of that, merchant ships who found them floating would often refuse to rescue them, as they feared that they wont be able to unload them when they land. The journey was a hard one for many refugees. VHM collects and sharesthetestimonies and artifacts that tell the stories of the Vietnamese refugees. From 1978 until 2005 Bidong Island was a refugee camp with a population reaching at its peak as many as 40,000 Vietnamese refugees. Waiting for the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) to process our application for asylum in Australia took nearly two years. Bidong Island is accessible from the coastal town of Merang. Largest island (about 260 ha in size), Bidong was one of the scenic and uninhibited islands in those days. Due to the huge number of refugees coming to Malaysia, at one point Pulau Bidong was said to be the most populated place in the world, holding about 40,000 refugees packed together in a flat area about the size of a football field. Often, they would visit the graveyards found on Pulau Bidong, which have been maintained by the Archive of Vietnamese Boat People, with money contributed by ethnic Vietnamese around the world. Sadly, my brother could not survive the traumatic journey. I have orchestrated and driven the boat when it lett the dock How do I remember the details so well? A Vietnamese refugee camp was established later in Pulau Bidong in August 1978 with the assistance of the United Nations. Aid organizations such as the Malaysian Red Crescent Society, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and many non-governmental organizations assisted the refugees. Today, the only welcome for visitors to the beach are a barren beachfront stall and glimpses of buildings heavily hidden by overgrown brushwood and bushes. See:A beauty of Tioman Island Malaysia never forgets this place! This is perhaps why the Terengganu MB, Dr Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar, had recently said that the state government is committed to develop Pulau Bidong as a historical tourism site. In May 1975,the first boat with 47 refugees arrived in Malaysia from Vietnam. And I've been here till today.". Visitors are encouraged to join a guided tour for safety reasons because there are many "booby traps" in the form of abandoned wells about 20-metre deep dug by the Vietnamese for freshwater. A short walk into the deep at Pantai Cina will lead to a small waterfall, said to be the favorite picnic spot of the refugees. While the government had later clarified that they wont literally shoot the refugees (Tun M said shoo the refugees, not shoot), they have admitted in June that they had towed out more than 40,000 refugees since January that year. Theres an official fungus species named after Spongebob and it was found in Malaysia. Pulau Bidong is off the coast of Terengganu and accessible via the Kampung Merang jetty, a 20-minute drive from Kuala Terengganu. Latrines and wells were inadequate; tropical rainstorms sent rivers of filthy water through the camp; all food and clean water had to be imported from the mainland. We took about a week while some other boats spent one or two months being tossed and turned by the waves. My sister and I took English lessons to prepare ourselves for repatriation to a third country. Luck was with our group. Pulau Bidong Refugee Camp 1978 - 1991, Malaysia: Current News Home Thailand Koh Kra: Hell on Earth Songkhla Laem Sing; Malaysia Pulau Bidong Pulau Tengah; Indonesia . "Palau Bidong Malaysia, is Still Home to 5,000 Refugees." Bidong Island was officially handed back to the Terengganu state government, but remains restricted to the public until 1999. It seems the camp spread and scattered around every flat area of the island. Something should be done to retain the heritage of the boat people, once so controversially intertwined with the country's destiny. These refugees were creatively named the Vietnamese Boat People by the media. Sanitation was nearly non-existent and hepatitis was rampant. Life on Hell Island Huynh's boat arrived on Pulau Bidong in 1978, just weeks after the island was opened to refugees. Some sources had estimated at as many as 300,000 of them were sent off to re-education camps, where they were tortured, starved, and forced to perform hard labor. To ensure the safety of the refugees in the island, security personnel like Police and RELA ( Voluntary Security Unit) was stationed there. P.O. A total of 9,000 Vietnamese were repatriated between 1991 and August 28, 2005 when the last refugees departed Malaysia for Vietnam.