II  The Tragic Journey - Life in Refugee Camp  

The reality of the Vietnamese boat people’s journey is full of tragic experiences, endless natural calamities and brutal man-made obstacles. (Photo: B. McDougall)

The boat people’s interim break between their dreadful escape and resettlement challenges was spent in various refugee camps. Thanks to international aid, numerous shelters for Vietnamese Asylees sprung up across Southeast Asia from Indonesia, Philippines to Malaysia, Thailand. When the first international conference on Indochinese refugees was held in Geneva in July 1979, nearly 200,000 boat people were waiting in various refugee camps for resettlement opportunities:  

Brunei       20        South Korea      42

Japan       531            Singapore   1,098

Macau        3,256        Philippines       5,540

Thailand      9,112        Indonesia      46,189

Malaysia      66,222            Hong Kong      66,419  

            Refugee camps’ shelters differed significantly from tents or wooden huts in barbed-wire enclaves to barracks or concrete domiciles in secured enclosures without access to the outside world.[1] For instance, Songkhla Camp in Thailand was hastily put together by Bangkok in June 1976[2] in Mueng District but it quickly ran out of room for the refugees; and thus in December 1978, a bigger camp was constructed on a beach far away from any sights of civilization in order to house the existing 3,000 boat people. Two years later in February 1980, the camp grew to contain 32 wooden barracks and shelter more than 6,000 refugees who were in the camp at the time. The camp was surrounded by a barbed-wire fence and controlled by a Thai army company.  It had a few wells to supply fresh water for cooking but no place for the Asylees to gather fire woods; thus, when the UNHCR’s monthly limited supply of charcoal ran out, the refugees were required to buy fire woods and other necessities such as cooking wares at a small market ran by Thai soldiers’ cronies just outside of the camp.  Without financial resources or monetary assistance from overseas relatives, a refugee had no choice but to depend on charity in order to survive.

At the peak of the exodus in 1979, except for Hong Kong which maintained its own refugee program with some UN assistance,[3] the UNHCR spent on a daily basis from U.S. $0.25 for each refugee in Thailand to U.S. $1 for every Asylee in Malaysia.  Supply shipments to refugees did not always reach their intended destinations easily.  For instance, it took 24 to 36 hours to ferry foods and necessities to the boat people stationed on Bintan Island in Indonesia.  As a result, dozens of lives including women and children perished while waiting for scarce supplies.

            An over-populated Malaysian refugee camp on Bidong Island (Pulau Bidong) was perhaps one of the most well-known shelters for Vietnamese boat people.  In July 1978, 121 Vietnamese were ferried to this undeveloped and uninhabited one-kilometer square volcanic island.  Six weeks later, 600 more refugees were transferred to the island but nothing was done by either the Malaysian government or the UNHCR to provide the Vietnamese with basic facilities such as supply bridges, storages or public toilets. The number of refugees increased to 9,000 during the following month and then 29,000 by year’s end.  The Asylee population on Bidong Island eventually climbed to more than 54,000 people; and miraculously the refugees had managed to survive without even basic and proper amenities. The newly-reclaimed freedom had provided a great opportunity for the boat people to exercise their creativity to conquer nature in order to ease their hard life in the camp.

To exist in such a severe situation for many months or even years, besides possessing hopes of a better future, the refugees tried to be incredibly innovative to improvise for the lack of basic facilities.  They traveled up the 300-meter-high hill on Bidong Island to gather fire woods for cooking and materials to build their huts or family shelters.  A hut was about 2 meters in width and 3 meters in length; and some even had electric lights supported by car batteries.[4] To supplement their 8-litre-per-person fresh-water quota supplied by the UNHCR on every second day,[5] they dug over a hundred wells around the camp; during dry seasons, however, only a small number of these wells contained drinkable water. Fresh water thus was one of the most critical items in the mind of many refugees on Bidong Island; and according to a former refugee named Hạnh, 'the worse thing was water.  All the wells were getting low - there was no pure water for drinking and cooking.  All day there were queues of people waiting for water and at 2 or 3 o'clock the queues were particularly long.  In addition, the weather became bad. The sea was very rough, food couldn't be carried. Malaysian fishing boats tried to come with very expensive food.  They were businessmen.  We had to waste our money and pay high prices for food.  Prices rose at the same time as the number of dead bodies.'[6]

The UNHCR’s 3-day ration for each refugee included 900 grams of rice, 2 bags of sugar, 1 bag of salt, 3 tins of canned fish, 3 tins of canned beans, 3 tins of canned chicken, and 3 bags of either tea or coffee. Every two months, subject to accessibility, the refugees were supplied with fresh vegetables. Children of tender age were allowed additional milk powder and dry biscuits. To find necessities to subsidize the UNHCR’s ration, some refugees traded with Malaysian fishermen despite the patrol soldiers’ severe punishment if caught red-handed without money to pay bribe. Those with hard currencies could acquire goods from a flea market that flourished inside the camp and sold all types of items ranging from toothpaste, cloths, cigarettes, sugar, flour to apples, grapes, pops and cookies. Fancy products such as flashlights, watches and perfumes were also available. As well, for sale were construction tools and materials such as hammers, saws, nails, screws and metal wire needed in the building of residential huts.

To facilitate their religious activities, the refugees erected a Buddhist pagoda and a Christian church on the Religion Hill (Ðồi Tôn Giá), where a cemetery also existed to harbor resting places for several dozens of Asylees who passed away on the island.  It was common knowledge that the first boat person who died on Pulau Bidong was an old man killed by a falling coconut.  By late 1979, there were 78 deaths on the island; but the refugee population also increased by 371 new births.[7] At least 28 people, mostly rape victims, were diagnosed with serious mental problems but there was no facility to care for them. The living condition on Palau Bidong was so miserable that the boat people named the island as ‘Cù lao bi đát' or ‘Hải đảo buồn lâu bi đát' (Island of Tragedy or Sad Isle).

        Refugee life in sheltering camps witnessed many happy moments as well as unpleasant experiences. The camp’s environment was a fertile ground for the development of lasting friendships, the creation of fraternities that continued to flourish in resettlement countries, the permanent union of lovers, the generous sharing of necessities among the dispossessed, the devotion to religions following tragic escapes, the novel innovations in the art of Vietnamese cuisine along with the rise in entrepreneurial spirits, etc.

        Human faith in Buddha or God was revived in many boat people, especially those encountering terrible ordeals on their journey to freedom. Almost every refugee camp had a Buddhist pagoda, a Catholic church and a Baptist chapel built and supported by long-time devotees and new followers. Weekly attendance was always full, and latecomers had to stand outside of the premises to listen to vocal interpretations of holy teachings. Besides holding masses, these religious centers also provided facility for many activities including bible seminars, foreign-language classes, Vietnamese schools for young children, charitable and cultural functions.

            Social activities, both religious and secular, helped to bring the boat people closer together in strange lands. Many new friendships were made and lasted for many years to come. A number of couples got married, and some even desired to name their babies after the refugee camp, where the infants were born, such as Songkha Nguyễn. Several organizations were founded or reestablished to offer social and logistic assistance to associates. There was even a secret group operating in various Thai refugee camps in the early 1980s with the objective of assembling and sending members back to liberalize and democratize Socialist Vietnam.

National downturns sometimes bring out the best in ordinary people.  The spirit of sharing among the boat people was evidential among the encamped refugees and between the Asylees and resettled expatriates. While awaiting for resettlement, thousands of boat people volunteered to take part in numerous activities from providing interpretation services, publishing news bulletins, undertaking security and sanitary works, offering assistance to the new arrivers, coordinating musical entertainment and caring for unaccompanied children and orphans, who lost their parents at sea. Special needs of the elderly and youth were also addressed by the volunteers. Beside religious functions, language and western lifestyle classes were held to offer older boat people some insights into their coming resettlement challenges. As for youngsters, besides daily schooling, weekly picnics and sport tournaments were organized to direct their active energy to worthy purposes.

            In resettlement countries, Vietnamese expatriates did not forget their encamped counterpart. Beside financial contributions, they also collected and forwarded magazines and newspapers to various camps to update the sheltered Asylees with worldwide and community information.  Occasional trips were organized by the expatriates to Southeast Asian refugee centers to deliver substantial necessities to the encamped boat people.  In later years, when the refugee screening process was implemented, the expatriates supported various volunteers to return and provide legal assistance to the asylum-seekers. To shelter the Asylees in the Philippines, Viet Village was built by the local Catholic church with approximately U.S. $2 million in donations from Vietnamese expatriates.

            It is common knowledge that the Vietnamese people are particularly fond of excellent traditional foods such as chả-giò (imperial rolls) and phở (noodle soups) as well as tasty pastries such as xôi (sticky rice) and chè (sweet puddings). Therefore, it was no surprise to find many eateries and cafes sprung up in various refugee camps just a few months after their establishment. One had to deeply admire Vietnamese women, who were incredibly creative in preparing traditional cuisine from the local non-Vietnamese ingredients. They invented cooking accessories from used gadgets to process local food items and managed to find seasonings to add Vietnamese flavors to the dishes. Popular recipes were modified by the women to reflect local realities without losing traditional tastes. Soon or later, delicious foods such as chả-giò (imperial rolls), phở (noodle soups) and delightful pastries such as xôi  (sticky rice) and chè (sweet puddings) appeared in almost all refugee centers.  

Food stalls in Galang Refugee Camp.
(Photo: Lý Khánh Vân)  

The boat people’s happy break in the camps occasionally marred by negative experiences brought about by the local authorities’ corrupt practices, brutal assaults and abductions of female Asylees. The local soldiers assigned to guard refugee camps often searched and confiscated valuables from the boat people. Resistance attracted severe retaliations ranging from physical beatings to lengthy imprisonment in chuồng khỉ (monkey cages).  For example in 1979, 1,400 boat people held in Letung on Jemaja Island were repeatedly pressured to pay U.S. $50 each to the Indonesian police for access to free UNHCR refugee registration sessions.

Abductions and rapes of female Asylees by the soldiers and their cronies were not uncommon. In a temporary camp named Kuku on Jemaja Island, Indonesian soldiers seized female Asylees from their families and gang raped the kidnapped victims for many months in 1989 and 1990. In another reported case, Ms. Mỹ Linh was raped by uniformed Thai soldiers when her group was detained in a military camp in March 1988.  Ms. Mỹ Linh’s group was eventually put on a leaking canoe and towed out of Thai waters after 3 nightmarish days in detention. The desperate victims managed to reached Kut Island and were taken by UNHCR representatives to Rang Yai Island on March 12, 1988 to join 500 other survivors. In another similar incident, rape survivor Nguyễn Diễm Chi was detained by the Thai authorities for 23 days in April 1988. During the confinement, she was sexually assaulted by the soldiers assigned to investigate the criminals who attacked her previously.

Earlier in Songkla Refugee Camp in Thailand, on March 18, 1980, a gang of plain clothed assailants knocked a man out, grabbed his girlfriend and carried her toward to the soldiers’ station.  A group of refugees sleeping on the beach nearby heard her screams and ran after the thugs, who had gone beyond the camp’s boundary.  Eventually, by disregarding the rule to stay within the preset boundary, the refugees were able to rescue the female victim from her kidnappers.  Thai soldiers immediately moved out of their station and, instead of looking for the assailants, blamed the refugees for their conduct outside of the camp’s boundary.[8]

            Despite the negative experiences, however, almost all boat people agreed that the time spent in refugee camps was one of the most memorable moments in their lives.  After encountering resettlement challenges in final-asylum countries, some even asserted that it was one of their better breaks. [9]

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