JANUARY 1, 1984. This is Salim's date of birth. Well, it isn't his actual date of birth. The "new year's" date was given by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) because there's no real record of his birth. If you asked around, you'd find that a good number of Rohingya refugees were 'born' on 1st January. Salim tells me he was born in August. Maybe.
And it was 1988, not 1984, that he was born. He was registered to look older because "lebih tua (older)" could mean faster settlement in a host country - like his brother in Australia and his sister in Canada.
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Danial Rahman
Danial Rahman has education close to his heart. He tweets at @danial_ari and welcomes feedback at danialrahman0330@gmail.com.
