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COMMENT: The Rohingyas: Whose problem is it anyway?

Thousands of Muslim Rohingya -- who are are stateless and reviled by Myanmar's Buddhist majority -- make the perilous maritime journey to Indonesia, such as this man who was rescued by Acehnese fishermen on May 20, 2015
Thousands of Muslim Rohingya -- who are are stateless and reviled by Myanmar's Buddhist majority -- make the perilous maritime journey to Indonesia, such as this man who was rescued by Acehnese fishermen on May 20, 2015



It was a game of maritime ping-pong. Finally, a breakthrough: Malaysia and Indonesia said they would offer temporary shelter to 7,000 ‘boat people’ – mostly Rohingyas from Bangladesh and Myanmar. Malaysia also committed to a naval search and rescue operation to assist the thousands more still stranded at sea.

Thailand has said it would stop towing boats back to sea, something Malaysia and Indonesia had been doing in recent days, and will allow the sick to come to shore for attention, but stopped short of saying it would allow other migrants to disembark. Singapore has refused to assist, saying the island nation is not in a position to accept any people due to limited land.

Much remains unanswered. Why are these nations so unwilling to help? Why is no one talking about dealing with the actual issue of why these people are leaving their countries in the first place?
 
There’s a humanitarian crisis on the ground in Rakhine state, where many Rohingyas reside. It’s time to pressure Myanmar to allow international experts and organisations into the country to work on solving the economic and religious issues Rohingyas face, so that they don’t need to be in constant exile.
 
Political ping-pong
 
“What do you expect us to do?” Malaysian Deputy Home Minister Wan Junaidi Jafaar first remarked when asked why Malaysia wouldn’t accept the boats.
 
This hardline stance exposes underlying religious and ethnic prejudices and highlights the impotence of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. There’s a fear that taking in some refugees could result in a larger influx of migrants or unrest.
 
Thailand, being a predominately Buddhist nation, battles an Islamic insurgency in its south –  one that’s been ongoing for decades. Lex Rieffel, an expert on Southeast Asia at the Brookings Institution said the nation simply has “no stomach” for bringing in more Muslims. Thailand is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention or its 1967 Protocol. It already hosts refugees from Myanmar in nine temporary shelters along the border.
 
For Malaysia and Indonesia, which are predominately Muslim nations, it isn’t about religion as much as it’s about preserving culture. Military chief General Moeldoko previously said, “We will try to prevent them from entering our territory, otherwise it will create social issues. If we open up access, there will be an exodus here.”


A stateless minority
 
The Rohingyas –  a Muslim ethnic group –  are fleeing persecution in Buddhist-majority Myanmar and Bangladesh. In recent years, local Buddhists in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, an extremely economically poor region, attacked Rohingyas and drove them into refugee camps near Sittwe, or elsewhere.
 
The United Nations’ refugee agency published a report this month saying 25,000 migrants had left Myanmar and Bangladesh in the first quarter of 2015. Today there are around 200,000 Rohingyas living in Bangladesh in refugee camps… but some have been sent back to Myanmar where they face continued discrimination and violence. It’s a horrific cycle.
 
“Myanmar is trying to eliminate Rohingyas from the country. It’s genocide,” says Zafar Ahmead, President of the Myanmar Ethnic Rohingya Human Rights Organisation Malaysia (Mehrom).
 
Christopher Lamb, Australia's former ambassador to Myanmar says, “There’s an issue with the term Rohingya being used. Myanmar does not recognize them as Rohingya –  it never has and neither did Britain. They are people who have migrated recently or over hundreds of years from Bangladesh. The language they speak is Bengali. That doesn’t meant they’re less suited for minority status –  they deserve respect and consideration –  but you don’t achieve that around a political argument around an ethnic group that doesn’t exist. It’s a tough thing to say though.” 

Rohingyas have been fleeing persecution for a long time. They’re stateless, unrecognized by the government of Myanmar. The country’s ‘democratic hero’ Aung San Suu Kyi has been pretty silent on the whole thing, and received much criticism for failing to use the word Rohingya in her description of them. Her agenda: Trying to get into office, and that takes the support of the Buddhist majority. The government’s agenda: Avoid causing further unrest, or getting kicked out of government.
 
Refugee convention not the answer
 
Lamb says a law enforcement approach isn’t the way to go about it –  their needs to be a political response.  “The critical thing the international community should do is look at why people are leaving…. What are the conditions of life? What do they hope for their future and what’s their appreciation of the world around them?”
 
Lamb asserts that respected international experts need to go in and find solutions on the ground. That’s not happening at the moment.

What ASEAN can do now is put pressure on the two nations to allow international aid organisations such as the Red Cross to come in and assess the situations and provide real solutions to the people’s economic struggles.