The government of Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi unexpectedly announced this week that all Rohingyas will be granted refugee status in accordance with UN rules.

The administration's motives may be other than humanitarian, but the delighted Rohingyas are not questioning it.

Rohingyas will be accorded all the legal, social and economic benefits that come with refugee status - no bed of roses but much better than being non-persons.

'We had no official papers, no identity, disowned by Myanmar and barely tolerated by the authorities here,' said Jaafar Hussein, 35, who runs a Rohingya help centre. 'We were treated like pariahs, but not any more.'

There is a festive air in the ramshackle settlement of about 200 shacks made of rusted zinc and discarded plywood, typical of several such communities in the city.

While the women cook in makeshift kitchens, the men speculate excitedly about the future. Some eke a living as rubbish collectors, cleaners and labourers - menial jobs that even other migrants reject. Others beg.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, which had lobbied hard for refugee status for the Rohingyas, said the decision attested to the prime minister's humanity.

But human rights activists cautioned that mere recognition was insufficient and that Rohingyas needed help to move out of squatter settlements, find jobs, send their children to school and get medical attention.