Black market also thrived in the community. In May 1975, the first boat with 47 refugees arrived in Malaysia from Vietnam. For details on the Bidong Island Guided Tour Package, call Ping Anchorage Travel & Tours Sdn Bhd at 09-6262020. About 21,000 refugees are crammed into Pulau Bidong and water is harder to find, according to reports of some who have been allowed on that island. The largest amounts of refugees came in 1979; more than 40,000 people. Outside this mini Saigon was a Malaysian police station, a Red Cross hospital and UNHCR schools - kindergarten, primary and vocational. The crisis saw as many as 2 million Vietnamese people leaving their country and seeking refuge in nearby countries, and in Malaysia, they were placed on an island called Pulau Bidong, in Terengganu. Not only did we survive the open sea without any sign of pirates, but we arrived at Pulau Bidong without any trouble. The refugees strongly protested their forced repatriation. Bidong was opened as a refugee camp in August 1978 and by June 1979 there were about 40,000 Indo-Chinese refugees on an island said to have capacity for about 4,500 people. Pulau Bidong was officially open on August 8th, 1978 On October 30th, 1991, Pulau Bidong camp was closed (Mohamad) 1996: Sungei Besi camp was closed Over 9,000 Vietnamese refugees were repatriated back to Vietnam August 28, 2005: Last Vietnamese refugees were repatriated back to Vietnam 1982 A story of despair, courage and compassion. 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. Water was rationed at one gallon per day per person. However, my time on Bidong was gainfully occupied. Note: Pahang is the name of a state. View of Pulau Bidong. The original version of this document may be found on the offical website of the IRB at, Last Updated: Tuesday, 28 February 2023, 15:25 GMT, 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees, 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board, Canada. According to the video, part of the reason was that the refugees created a higher demand in food, driving prices up. Other refugee camps were also set up in other regions of Malaysia such as Pulau Tengah, Pulau Besar, Kota Bharu, Kuantan, Sarawak, Sabah, and Kuala Lumpur. It also served as their source of fresh water (when supplies run out) and a stopover after collecting wood at the nearby hills. Movie Theme Tours in Korea: Winter Sonata and Autumn in My Heart, Straits Born Chinese: The Peranakan story, A Warrior's Odyssey - Interview with Antonio Graceffo. And I've been here till today.". Bidong Island Malaysia now is a deserted island without any settler or resort operated. Before the island was used to land Vietnamese refugees in 1978, the island was uninhibited and has beautiful scenery. A kindergarten run by UNHCR staff looks no different than any other school. [4], After the departure of the refugees, the Marine Research Station of Universiti Malaysia Terengganu's was established on the island. On 30 April 1975, the Vietnam War ended with the evacuation of the American Embassy and the fall of Saigon to the North Vietnamese Army. Bidong Island also offers the underwater attraction. Most stayed on Bidong a few months or longer and were resettled abroad in third countries, especially the United States. In due time, my parents and younger brother joined us in Melbourne. Southeast Asian Exodus: From Tradition to Resettlement. From 1978 until 2005 Bidong Island was a refugee camp with a population reaching at its peak as many as 40,000 Vietnamese refugees. Bidong Island is accessible from the coastal town of Merang. Another 600 refugees arrived in August and thereafter the arrival of boats from Vietnam was a near daily occurrence. Bidong island was a refugee camp for the South Vietnamese boat people who escaped from communisms from the Vietnam war. Museums Victoria does not own the copyright in all the material on this website. List of boats known to have arrived at Pulau Bidong Refugee Camp: 1978-1980, 1981-1985, 1986-1990, 1991 & after: From 1978 To 1980: Boat number Arrived Bidong Departed VN Number . The island has a spectacular backdrop ranging from various species of plants, trees and animals to clear waters surrounding it with a great view of the corals. The Chinese who did stay, were persecuted by the locals along with their siblings [they] acquired a boat through a friend, a compass, and a map for their journey. Only emptiness and a strange affectionate air lingers. (ABC Radio Darwin: Supplied) After the Vietnam War ended John Thanh . Based on accounts from a former refugee, the Malaysian government as well as volunteers had over time organized the island somewhat, and it had longhouses, schools, places of worship, and even a post office and coffee shops. For entertainment, a weekly (musical or cultural) performance was held unless there was severe inclement weather. For some First Peoples communities, seeing images or hearing recordings of persons who have passed, may cause sadness or distress and, in some cases, offense. Indeed, outside of the Philippines, Vietnam was Asia's most Catholic country due to the French colonial experience. This collection enables the telling of both stories, with primacy given in this instance to the employee as custodian of the objects. Bidong Island was officially opened as a refugee camp on 8 August 1978 with 121 Vietnamese refugees. The pristine of the island was regained and it started getting many visitors, including the former refugees that were nostalgic with their old home. In addition, the governments of Malaysia and other Southeast Asian countries discouraged refugees from landing on their shores. No incident encountered (pirates, oil rigs, foreign ships, etc.). Yes, this is the famous island portrayed in the controversial movie Turtle Beach (starring Joan Chen) but no, none of the refugees were murdered by the local fishermen. 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. Copyright notice: This document is published with the permission of the copyright holder and producer Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB). Peace and tranquility have returned to these idyllic spots in the South China Sea but Bidong will never be the same again. Though there's little of practical value in the ruins, signboards with Vietnamese characters and names are still on display - guiding our way around the little ghost town. 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. Life on Hell Island Huynh's boat arrived on Pulau Bidong in 1978, just weeks after the island was opened to refugees. If something is not done about Pulau Bidong, and soon, it will fast become nothing more than a ghost island. Aid organizations such as the Malaysian Red Crescent Society, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and many non-governmental organizations assisted the refugees. They were called boat people. However, the number of boat people fleeing Vietnam was relatively small until 1978. Malaysia About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features The uniqueness of Bidong Island Malaysia may be so interesting for you. 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. 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. [{"nid":829751,"title":"NST Leader: A putsch too long","created":1662652822,"changed":1662652822,"sponsored":0,"highlighted":0,"url":"https:\/\/www.nst.com.my . After over 8 hours on the Mekong River, the boat entered the Pacific Ocean via "Ca i". You may be required to seek cultural clearances from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, families, individuals or organisations before you reproduce Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander material. In 13 years it provided accomodatation to a number of nearly 250,000 Vietnamese boat people, with the topmost crowded period of time in 1980 it housed over 40,000 boat people at one time in a small area of one . Boat numbers. 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. The level of documentation for collection items can and does vary, dependent on when or how the item was collected. Up until last month, almost 5,000 people had visited the island, and some of them include former refugees or their children. My parents remained in Vietnam with my youngest brother, then still a toddler. Well be looking at the issue shortly, but first things first. Pulau bidong saya pernah pergi, selepas off as refugee camp. The remaining refugees were moved to the Sungai Besi transit camp and the process of repatriating them to Vietnam began. Stayed in Marang Transit Camp for over 2 days awaiting for bad weather to subside before being transferred to Pulau Bidong by the "Blue Dart" boat. Last May I had the opportunity to accompany a Vietnamese American Heritage Foundation (VAHF) delegation to visit one of the former gateways to freedom in the Southeast Asian region: the refugee camp of Galang in the Riau Archipelago, also a province, in Indonesia that received boat people escaping communist Vietnam in the late 1970s through the . 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. The journey was a hard one for many refugees. The most valuable thing my mom brought with her was her diamond ring which my dad bought for her for their wedding. Excerpt from PulauBidong. 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. Our applications were approved and we sailed to Australia. Img from Alienware Arena. 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. 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. It was taken at a refugee camp on the Malaysian island of Pulau Bidong off the coast of Terengganu in the South China Sea in April, 1981. In May 1975, Malaysia's shores saw the arrival of the first weather-beaten boat, carrying 47 people from Viet Nam. The station has living quarters and laboratories for students and researchers to study marine ecosystems. Immigration officials from many countries visited the island to interview refugees for resettlement abroad. No visitors were allowed on or around the islands. 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. 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. They stand like a mute reminder to the world. The capacity of the camp was said to be 4,500. Wewishto preserve this heritage for present and future generations to reflect upon. 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. 1994-2015 Global Directions, Inc. All Rights Reserved. As for what they will be doing, at the time of writing there were several proposals by the state museum on what will be done, but the first thing will be to allocate some funds to repair the amenities on the island and clean it up a bit, after Terengganu receives its petroleum royalty from the federal government in September. 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. Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada. One part of the beach was even named Pantai Cina - China Beach - after its more famous counterpart in Vietnam. Img from TunHans WordPress. Arrived at the "Cu Jetty" at 1:30pm on June 20, 1983. Can I reuse this image without permission? You can use price alert to monitor your flight fares according to your traveling budget. One visitor, Leo Cherne, called Bidong "Hell Isle." 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. Your email address will not be published. Fresh (drinking) water was always an issue, which had to be transported from mainland by boat. With the closing of the camp, the remaining refugees were repatriated back to Vietnam. A Malaysian government transit boat on route to the Pulau Bidong refugee camp in 1981. Credit: Lachlan Kennedy/Museums Victoria From 1975 to 1985, Australia accepted 80,000 Vietnamese refugees, and now more than 200,000 Vietnamese-born people call Australia home. Under the agreement, Malaysia accepted around 250,000 Indochinese boat people who resided at Pulau Bidong refugee camp in Terengganu. item HT 35675 Presentation Plaque - Handpainted Ship Wheel, Pulau Bidong Refugee Camp, Malaysia, 1981 Migration & Cultural Diversity Handpainted wooden ship wheel presented to Lachlan Kennedy, a member of the Australian Department of Immigration Indo-Chinese Refugee Taskforce, from January-September 1981. 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. My parents were forced to leave because of all the hatred towards the Chinese people. Malaysia has 756 children in immigration detention centers. 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. 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. Largest island (about 260 ha in size), Bidong was one of the scenic and uninhibited islands in those days. And the best part their corals is the mos beutifull far more beautiful from perhentian and redang. Pulau Bidong Refugee Camp 1978 - 1991, Malaysia: Current News Home Thailand Koh Kra: Hell on Earth Songkhla Laem Sing; Malaysia Pulau Bidong Pulau Tengah; . Bidong Island was officially opened as a refugee camp on 8 August 1978 with 121 Vietnamese refugees. A total of 9,000 Vietnamese were repatriated between 1991 and . Leo Cherne, a visitor to the camp, had once described the place as Hell Isle based on his observations. In May 1975,the first boat with 47 refugees arrived in Malaysia from Vietnam. 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. A Decrease font size. Pulau Bidong was eventually shut down as a refugee camp in October 1991, and the remaining refugees were moved to the Sungai Besi Refugee Center in Kuala Lumpur, where they were either eventually resettled or repatriated back to Vietnam. P.O. All Rights Reserved. At the time Pulau Bidong was a refugee camp for Vietnamese boatpeople; at times about 5 000 people were there; mostly Vietnamese, plus various Malaysian and international workers. One of the many cemeteries on Bidong. Here at CILISOS, we believe that the only way to consume information is with a serious dose of flavour. Pulau Bidong is like a gem in the South China Sea waiting for the right time for its potential to be realized. By January 1979, there were 18,000 Vietnamese on the island and by June 1979 it was said to be the most heavily populated place on earth with about 40,000 refugees crowded into a flat area hardly larger than a football field. 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. The Canadian Embassy provided a matching grant of RM20,000 for us to build the stage for the performances. Pulau Bidong was eventually shut down as a refugee camp in October 1991, and the remaining refugees were moved to the Sungai Besi Refugee Center in Kuala Lumpur, where they were either eventually resettled or repatriated back to Vietnam. Then in 1999, Bidong Island has opened again but for tourism purpose. 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. Vietnamese American Experiences at Westminster High School, Les Bird Book Signing: Along the Southern Boundary, Author Hour: Les Bird at Santa Ana Library, K c thuyn nhn ti trin lm ca Vin Bo Tng Di Sn Ngi Vit Little Saigon TV, PHOTOS: VHM Annual Gala A Reflection of Our Past. While no other major development is planned for the island at the moment, its nice to know for now that the historical value of the island did not go unnoticed by the authorities. 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. The capacity of the camp was said to be 4,500. What remains are mute reminders of recent history: charred wooden buildings and rotting huts which once housed about a quarter of a million boat people since their first arrival in 1978. While it has been said that the living conditions in makeshift tents for those who become refugees due to wars are deplorable, for the thousands of Vietnamese boat people who found refuge at Pulau Bidong it was, to some extent, likened to living in a tropical paradise. 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. Bibliography. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bidong_Island&oldid=1105891529, This page was last edited on 22 August 2022, at 07:36. 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. Boredom and uncertainty are the biggest. Pulau memang cantik. Doctors were abundant, but medicine was in short supply. Theres an official fungus species named after Spongebob and it was found in Malaysia. The Vietnamese Heritage Museum(VHM)is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to the preservation andexhibitionof our Vietnamese refugees heritage. Out of the estimated 800,000 Vietnamese who left their country during this period, the biggest proportion, more than a quarter of a million, landed on our shores. The Pulau Bidong refugee camp in Malaysia was typical of the conditions faced by many refugees. The refugees strongly protested their forced repatriation. A refugee child on Bidong. Pulau Bidong served as a half-way house for these people before they were sent to other third countries, including the United States, Canada, Australia and several European countries, and it took time to grant approval to those qualified to be accepted as refugees. "We have heard stories of similarly desperate boat people escaping out of the communist Vietnam. Entertainment In the late 80s, a musical stage was set up next to longhouse B15. It is an underwater gallery in 15 meters of depth that exhibits the replicas of relics and cultural artifacts such as Terengganu Inscription Stone, arch, tepak sireh, and traditional boat. President Jimmy Carter raised the quota for permitting Indochinese into the United States from 7,000 to 14,000 per month and other countries followed suit, especially Canada, Australia, and France. Our writers, photographers and contributors are real people who tell you the stories of their personal travels and experiences. The first refugee's group consisting 47 people arrived on the island in 1975. No It has regained its former pristine beauty and many former refugees have revisited their old home. Aid organisations such as the Malaysian Red Crescent Society, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and many non-governmental organisations assisted the refugees. But the refugee population was well organized and many small businesses and an efficient food and water distribution system was set up. Mr Kennedy said it was a transitional moment in Australia's history. Bidong Island was officially opened as a refugee camp on August 8th, 1978 with 121 Vietnamese refugees. 2023 Vietnamese Heritage Museum. The refugees strongly protested their forced repatriation. John Thanh Hung Ho, his brothers Vinh and Duc, and room mates at the refugee camp on Pulau Bidong Island, Trengganu, Malaysia. They are not the current views of Museums Victoria, do not reflect current understanding and are not appropriate today. The capacity of the camp was said to be 4,500. Voices of refugees. From this time on the numbers declined with fewer arrivals and people processed and re-settled in countries such as Australia. Bidong Island is accessible from the coastal town of Merang. This is not a UNHCR publication. Migration & Cultural Diversity, Transport, Images & Image Making, Donation from Mr Lachlan Kennedy, 16 Mar 2015, Mr Lachlan Kennedy, Pulau Bidong, Terengganu, Malaysia, Apr 1981, Migration, Processing - immigration selection, Refugee camps, Vietnamese Immigration, Refugees, Water Transport, Water Vessel, Boats, Immigration, Immigrant Voyages, Immigration Selection, Vietnam War Refugees, Museums Victoria Collections https://collections.museumsvictoria.com.au/items/2103284Accessed 05 March 2023, We support the open release of data and information about our collections. Water was rationed at one gallon per day per person. Sanitation was nearly non-existent and hepatitis was rampant. The locals (particularly in the East Coast) didnt like that at all, to the point that some were attacking the incoming boats by throwing rocks at them. As a young girl, I remember staring at the refugees staying at the Sungei Besi Refugee camp. Bidong Island The Bidong Archipelago comprises six islands. But as the conflicts progressed in Vietnam, more and more refugees reached Malaysia. We also did not know how to tell my parents that our brother drowned on the way here. Bidong IslandThe Bidong Archipelago comprises six islands. Pulau Bidong's unusual past as a refugee camp has become a quiet tourist draw for many former Vietnamese boat people, a development that was noted by Culture, Youth and Tourism Minister Datuk Paduka Abdul Kadir Sheikh Fadzir in Parliament on Wednesday. Whether that is fact or fiction is immaterial. 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. In 1979, Tun Mahathir, who was the deputy Prime Minister back then, made a controversial statement saying that Malaysia would remove some 70,000 refugees from the camp and put them out to sea again, as well as shooting on sight any refugee boats attempting to land. Pulau Bidong is off the coast of Terengganu and accessible via the Kampung Merang jetty, a 20-minute drive from Kuala Terengganu. They let us go after "collecting" all watches, jewelries and money. Pulau Bidong Refugee Camp 1978 - 1991, Malaysia: Current News Home Thailand Koh Kra: Hell on Earth Songkhla Laem Sing; Malaysia Pulau Bidong Pulau Tengah; . Pulau Bidong, one of the scenic and uninhabited islands off located off Kuala Terengganu, is often remembered as the temporary home of the Vietnamese boat people who fled their war-torn country in the 1970s. It has regained its former pristine beauty and many former refugees have revisited their old home. Though Bidong rarely appears in local holiday itineraries, it has been frequented either by returning Vietnamese or UNHCR volunteers. Ottawa: The Canadian Asian Studies Association. Your email address will not be published. The capacity of the camp was said to be 4,500. We called it Supplied Water. In this video we visited Pulau Bidong, a island on the east coast of Malaysia that was once a refugee camp for the Vietnamese running away from the post Viet. Photos. Img from Lang Nams blogspot. But pantai dia all got kaca. 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. Many of us ethnic Chinese who remained in Vietnam were persecuted by the locals. The largest amounts of refugees came in 1979; more than 40,000 people. Pulau Bidong is off the coast of Terengganu and accessible via the Kampung Merang jetty, a 20-minute drive from Kuala Terengganu. We took about a week while some other boats spent one or two months being tossed and turned by the waves. List of boats known to have arrived at Pulau Bidong Refugee Camp: 1978-1980, 1981-1985, 1986-1990, 1991 & after: Boat number Arrived Bidong Departed VN Number people Boat Story . After collecting all the cash and valuables my parents had, my family realized that there was only enough money for three people to go. The kids, on the other hand, were kept busy by school, church, temple, and Boy Scouts activities. These parallel and intersecting experiences have both personal and bureaucratic elements to them, linked by place, and world events, with craft and gifts of appreciation providing tangible points of connection and memory. P.O. 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. They indiscreetly scrutinized us as we treaded gingerly, looking out for relatives and friends, on the white sandy beach. Then the island was borrowed as a refugee camp from the state government of Terengganu. List of boats known to have arrived at Pulau Bidong Refugee Camp: 1978-1980, 1981-1985, 1986-1990, 1991 & after: From 1986 To 1990: Boat number Arrived Bidong Departed . Local fishermen traded with several Vietnamese who were brave enough to swim out to the fishing boats, anchored some distance from the island. The war practically ended then, but it marked the beginning of further conflicts, both within and with its neighbors. The Vietnamese Heritage Museum(VHM)is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to the preservation andexhibitionof our Vietnamese refugees heritage. OMG, SPM is so secretive, its even filed under OSA but why? 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. The arrival of new refugees to Bidong and other locations in Southeast Asia decreased after June 1979. These shots are from the time I spent on Pulau Bidong, Malaysia, in 1985. There are still several solid wooden buildings left standing but these need a huge "face-lift" if they are to be put to use as a tourist attraction. The island only houses the remnants of school, hospital, shops, and refugee accommodations. The process of shooting / developing / printing / scanning / processing the images has not always been kind. After a convenient hotel pickup, board a speedboat and learn all about "Little Saigon," where tens of thousands of people fleeing the Vietnam War by boat landed and built a camp. Orphan works, where the copyright owner is unknown, also require permission for reuse. Happy traveling! Another 600 refugees arrived in August and thereafter the arrival of boats from Vietnam was a near daily occurrence. Some of these photos were taken by me, some were not; I wish to acknowledge that and am placing the images here in the hope that some of the people in them, or their relatives might discover them. The refugees strongly protested their forced repatriation. All rights reserved. In the afternoon of the first day, We were chased and stopped by a big steel fishing boat (Chin Thng 18). Covered all the pantai. A small shop on Pulau Bidong. Well. They were called "boat people.". Since we did not have any adults to protect us, we were often bullied. One visitor, Leo Cherne, called Bidong "Hell Isle." Required fields are marked *. Please refer to attachments for information about Palau Bidong refugee camp in Malaysia. Some of the countries we currently cover are Burma, Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Macau, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. 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. 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].
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