KLANG: For many undocumented foreigners and refugees, it isn’t entirely easy for them to get vaccinated against Covid-19 despite Malaysia allowing them to walk in for the jabs at Bukit Jalil National Stadium.
Nina, an Indonesian who is here on an expired tourist visa, said: “Firstly, taxi and e-hailing drivers do not want to take foreign workers anymore due to fear of getting infected by them.
“So those undocumented people encountered a lot of travelling hardship to get vaccinated,” she said.
Walk-in registrations for non-Malaysian citizens, including undocumented persons and refugees, started yesterday till Aug 11 at Bukit Jalil National Stadium for those aged 40 and above.
From Aug 12 to 22, it will be the turn of foreigners aged 18 and above.
Nina, who lives in Banting, Kuala Langat, said those with passports, even expired ones, were able to register via the MySejahtera application to get vaccinated.
“Although I am also here illegally, I was able to register through the MySejahtera application because I have a passport.
“However, I have friends who sneaked into the country without passports and they cannot register through MySejahtera,’’ said Nina, who has received her first dose from a vaccination centre near Banting.
Indian national N. Sadasivam, who has been living illegally here for the past seven years, said his friends had managed to hire a taxi to go to Bukit Jalil yesterday morning but got cold feet when they saw a police car parked along the highway.
“My friends did not want to take the risk so they turned back,’’ said Sadasivam, who does odd jobs in Klang to earn a living.
Both Nina and Sadasivam hope the government will allow undocumented foreigners and refuges to get vaccinated at locations which are not too far from where they live.
As for those who had registered to get vaccinated via MySejhatera with their refugee or community cards, not all were able to get inoculated.
Marilyn Nu, who is with the Malaysia Karen Organisation, said many members of her organisation managed to register for vaccination via the MySejahtera application with their community membership card number.
“Their received the appointment for their first dose but when they went to the vaccination centre, they were turned away by the staff there saying that they will not accept the community cards,” she said.
Nu hoped the vaccination centres would give their staff and volunteers clear instructions so that undocumented people, such as those from her organisation, who have been given appointments, would be vaccinated as scheduled.
James La Seng from the Kachin Refugee Committee here concurred and said some of his organisation’s members who managed to get appointments, after registering via the MySejahtera application with their community card number, have been successfully vaccinated.
“Some have also been turned away and told that their community cards will not be accepted.
“It looks like some vaccination centres accept community cards held by undocumented migrants and refugees whilst some do not,’’ said La Seng.
Both the Karen and Kachin communities are from Myanmar and currently have an estimated 2,000 and 2,500 undocumented members, respectively, in Malaysia.
Hordes of foreigners arrived in chartered buses at Bukit Jalil National Stadium yesterday to be vaccinated but most appeared to be legitimate factory workers.
It is believed that their employers had sent them there to get vaccinated for free instead of having to pay to get them inoculated under the Selangor government’s Selangor Vaccine Industry programme.