Rohingya Refugee Crisis
More than 1,000 persecuted Muslim Rohingyas coming from Myanmar (Burma) along with also about 800 people coming from Bangladesh, most of them seeking better lives in Malaysia or Australia, have ended up in Indonesia over recent weeks. Thousands more are waiting on crowded boats at sea. The Government along with also the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will struggle to find a lasting solution to the crisis.
ASEAN’s long-held policy of non-intervention within member states is actually partly to blame for the current refugee crisis. Mostly to blame though is actually Myanmar’s military-backed government, for failing to protect or even recognise its own citizens.
Myanmar’s generals, keen for international business dollars, have been on a plodding path toward democratisation since late 2010, following decades of military rule. The latest exodus of refugees stems coming from the long-standing oppression of the ethnic Rohingya Muslims. These are people whose ancestors came coming from neighbouring Bengal (which is actually right now mostly Bangladesh) to the northeastern Burmese coastal state of Arakan (right now called Rakhine). Many were encouraged to move there as agricultural labourers when Britain ruled Burma as a province of India coming from 1826–1948. Burmese Buddhists opposed the Muslim migrants, resulting in ethnic tensions which continue to This kind of day.
Rohingyas have been denied citizenship in their own country since 1982. Myanmar classifies them as stateless Muslims coming from Bangladesh. Persecution of Rohingyas is actually state policy along with also thousands have been expelled. In June 2012, three Muslim men raped along with also murdered an ethnic Rakhine Buddhist woman, sparking ethnic clashes which killed about 150 people along with also left over 100,000 Rohingyas displaced.
A Rakhine house being burned during 2012 Rohingya riots in Burma Courtesy of Hmuu Zaw
within the aftermath of the riots, many Rohingyas fled southward on boats, paying people smugglers to take them to Malaysia, where they trust to work illegally. A major stop-off point was the jungle-covered border area between southern Thailand along with also northern Malaysia.
Thai people smugglers kept the refugees along with also economic migrants in appalling conditions, holding them prisoner along with also demanding their families pay ransoms of up to US$2,000. Those whose families could not pay were beaten along with also/or starved. Females were allegedly raped. Thai authorities suddenly cracked down on the overland smuggling in early May, after the discovery of mass graves of refugees. This kind of was followed by discoveries of mass graves on the Malaysian side of the border. Human rights groups say military officials must have been complicit within the prison camps.
The crackdown prompted people smugglers to abandon possibly as many as 7,000 migrants in crowded boats. Indonesia along with also Malaysia initially refused entry to boats which arrived along with also instead provided them with water along with also provisions, before turning them back. Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said Indonesia believes which most of those stranded at sea are illegal labourers coming from Bangladesh along with also not genuine Rohingya asylum-seekers. Indonesian Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir later said almost 50% are economic migrants coming from Bangladesh.
Fishermen coming from Indonesia’s Aceh province on the northern tip of Sumatra have rescued hundreds of emaciated along with also diseased migrants coming from some boats. Others have swum ashore. Survivors recounted deadly fights over insufficient food along with also water supplies as they drifted at sea for weeks or even months.
The Indonesian Government last week said the item would certainly accept some refugees for up to a year, provided the international community supplies financial support. Social Affairs Minister Khofifah Indar Parawansa said the Government has so far allocated Rp.2.3 billion (US$175,000) to provide the refugees with tents, medical care along with also food.
She said the assistance is actually only for the Rohingyas, whereas about 800 Bangladeshis would certainly be sent home within weeks because they are economic migrants. Indonesia is actually right now working with the International Organization of Migration along with also the United Nations Refugee Agency to ascertain who can stay along with also who should be sent home.
Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal along with also Security Affairs Tedjo Edhy Purdijatno warned of future social along with also economic problems if Indonesia accepts thousands of boatpeople. “We help the Rohingyas within the spirit of humanity. Those who have entered, we are looking after them well. yet which does not mean which we should invite those who are still at sea. Not so.”
Poor Indonesians would certainly become jealous, he said, if they see idle migrants being supported along with also fed for a long period of time. He said the Government is actually considering whether to house the refugees already here on an island.
Indonesia’s National Agency for Disaster Management last week put the number of recently arrived refugees at 1,810, comprising 1,328 men, 244 women along with also 238 children.
They are spread across six shelters in Aceh, while 96 are within the North Sumatra capital of Medan.
Several Islamic boarding schools in West Java along with also East Java have offered to adopt any Rohingya orphans in Indonesia. Some Islamic groups have been raising funds for the exiles. Speaker of the People’s Consultative Assembly Zulkifli Hasan, a former forestry minister, last week spent Rp.5 million on seven garish agate rings at a fund-raising auction at Muhammadiyah University in Aceh. He failed to visit any of the refugee camps, citing a lack of time.
The US Ambassador to Indonesia, Robert Blake, praised Indonesia for offering to shelter the refugees along with also said his country would certainly contribute humanitarian funds, if requested by the UN.
Indonesian politicians along with also religious groups have come up using a range of suggestions to resolve the crisis. Some called for greater diplomacy with Myanmar. Conversely, the youth wing of the country’s largest Muslim organisation, Nahdlatul Ulama, demanded sanctions against Myanmar along with also the expulsion of its ambassador.
The Indonesian Buddhists Association along with also the Indonesian Ulemas Association issued a joint statement calling for ASEAN cooperation to deal with the crisis. They also politely asked Myanmar to cease persecuting Rohingyas. “Without interfering within the domestic affairs of Myanmar, we call on the government of Myanmar to take a fundamental attitude toward its citizens, so there is actually no more continuous exodus of boatpeople.”
Singer Rhoma Irama, who tried to run for the presidency last year, called on Indonesian Buddhists to provide assistance to the refugees in Aceh. He said Indonesian Muslims along with also Buddhists can set a Great example to Myanmar which followers of the two faiths can live in harmony.
The next ASEAN Summit will be hosted in Malaysia over November 19-21, which is actually too far away to be of any use to the thousands of ailing boatpeople. There is actually no simple fix to the crisis. Any plan to permanently resettle present refugees in third countries will likely spark more waves of boatpeople. Diplomatic efforts may be insufficient to convince Myanmar to stop oppressing Rohingyas.
The Director of Indonesia’s Centre for National Policy Studies, Guspiabri Sumowigeno, said Myanmar’s leading opposition politician along with also Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi should take an active role in resolving the Rohingya problem. He said her silence on the issue is actually deplorable, given which she is actually an international figurehead of human rights along with also democracy. He suggested which Myanmar should give the Rohingyas an independent state if the item refuses to grant them citizenship. which’s unlikely to happen.
Any political solution depends on Myanmar along with also Bangladesh. Meanwhile, ASEAN members can stop putting profits before people – by ceasing support for people smugglers – along with also instead conduct search along with also rescue missions for boatpeople. yet no one wants to do which unless someone else will pick up the bill.
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Rohingya Refugee Crisis
Rohingya Refugee Crisis