Paper short abstract:

Asylum seekers and refugees in Malaysia have no formal access to accommodation. I present four extremes of the refugee experience to highlight the disparity: living in a high rise condo, dwelling in a rural homestead, being housed in a high-density urban flat and shelved in a detention facility.

Paper long abstract:

I present three extremes of the refugee experience in Malaysia, dwelling in a rural homestead, being housed in a high-density urban flat and shelved in a rundown detention facility to highlight the disparity of refugee housing. Asylum seekers and refugees in Malaysia generally have no access to accommodation by the government or service providers. Some refugee organisations provide limited shelter facilities and unaccompanied minors can be sheltered in NGO shelters; however, the state only provides one extreme form of housing for refugees: detention. These facilities are underfunded and run down. Refugees are often shelved there for months until the UNHCR can act to release them. Refugees are on the whole responsible for their own housing needs and many are housed by their employers in small urban flats with many others. These cramped conditions at low pay and long hours present another form of dystopian living. Some, lucky few, refugees have found ways to leave the city and find rural work. Here, at a slower pace, refugees can dwell on the land and replicate a rural lifestyle, whilst an even more select group of refugees are able to find well paid jobs or rely on savings to afford an expat lifestyle, living in high rise urban condominiums.