After the Vietnam War, Le Xuan Mui was imprisoned in the communist reeducation camps for eight years before he attempted an escape. He was caught and imprisoned once more. Upon his release in 1986, he tried to escape Vietnam by boat seven times before finally succeeding in 1990. Along with 275 other people, he left on a 26-meter-long boat. On the fifth day at sea, they came across a smaller river boat, with no roof for protection, that had been carrying eleven people for eleven days. After rescuing those eleven people, Le Xuan Bui's boat, now with 286 people aboard, continued on at sea for another thirteen days until they reached the Galang Refugee Camp on March 13, 1990.
Unfortunately, they entered the camp after the Comprehensive Plan of Action had been passed and adopted, a major policy change that served to deter Southeast Asian refugees from fleeing and to establish a repatriation program. In Indonesia, this meant that all refugees who arrived after March 17, 1989 would no longer be prima facie refugees, but would have to be screened for refugee status.
Life in the refugee camp was full of hardship for Le Xuan Mui who did not have family abroad to send him support. To earn some money, he would build things out of repurposed materials from the camp and sell them to other refugees (much like the wooden chest he built for himself).
During his time at the camp, he volunteered as the head of his barracks at 138 Zone D, Galang Site II. In 1994, he led a protest against forced repatriation and was arrested and imprisoned in Tanjung Pinang. He was ultimately repatriated to Vietnam on August 19, 1996.
