KOTA BARU: Like Pahang, Kelantan has settlements of Cambodian refugees, many of whom are undocumented.
Kampung Bunga Emas, near Penambang, has existed since the 1980s and is the oldest Cambodian settlement in Kelantan.
Located near Sungai Kelantan, the village houses nearly 800 Cambodian families, mostly from Phnom Penh.
Ti Ram, one of the earliest settlers of the village, said many Cambodians chose to live in the village as it was the nearest area where they could land.
“Most of us came from small villages in Phnom Penh. As many of us were from poor families, we decided to leave our country to find jobs to support our families.
“We travelled for hours in boats and landed at the riverbank across this village. We started building our families here,” said the 84-year-old mother of five.
In the following years, Ti said, Malays started arriving in the village.
As more and more Cambodians started arriving, the village came to be known locally as the “Cambodian Settlement”.
Another Cambodian, Siti Nazirah Abdullah, 35, said she moved to Malaysia with her family in 2003.
“We left our country due to poverty.
“When I arrived here, I met a Malaysian man and we got married,” said the mother of two.
On identification documents, Siti Nazirah, a tailor, said she was in the process of applying for permanent resident status and was using her passport to stay here.
Checks by the New Straits Times showed hundreds of houses set up by the Cambodian community in the area.
The majority of Cambodian men work outside as carpenters or traders, leaving the women to tend the children and home.
A number of Malaysian families live in the village. These homes are located further apart.
Most of the Cambodian women work as tailors or run sundry shops.
Sources say most of the foreigners are undocumented, and have been living here illegally for years.
“These people are smart. Each time the local authorities carry out an operation to check on them, they will flee,” said a source.
“They would alert each other to the operation. They go into hiding and return once the operation is over.”