Thai government officials pretend not to know about the problem of "Rohingya refugees" who have been trafficked into Thailand. However, the government must recognize the problem and try to solve this complex and tragic issue with a comprehensive approach.
Although the origins of the Rohingya are still under debate, this ethnic group has lived in northwestern Myanmar since time immemorial, especially in Rakhine State. Myanmar refuses to recognize them as citizens, calling them illegal migrants from Bengal.
More than 1,5-2 million Rohingyas were forced to leave their homes in Myanmar after independence in 1948, mainly due to differences in race and religion, says the Arakan Rohingya National Organisation, a group of activists who defend rights.
Two million Rohingyas still live in Myanmar, while hundreds of thousands roam the Myanmar-Bangladesh border. A major exodus of Rohingya has occurred twice since Myanmar's independence. Once in 1978 when the military regime of Ne Win de Naga Min (Dragon King) persecuted the 'illegal migrants' and in the early 1990s, after a military crackdown on the democratic movement.
The current wave of Rohingya refugees began, unreportedly, more than a decade ago as they sought a better life in Southeast Asia. Malaysia is often the final destination, but Thailand is the regional hub for the refugees due to weak border controls and corrupt officials.
The flood of refugees did make headlines in early 2009 when some of them were brutally treated by Thai authorities (their ships were reportedly towed back to sea). Problems in Rakhine state worsened three years later, when Muslim Rohingyas clashed with Rakhine's predominantly Buddhist residents. The violence displaced more than 100.000 people, eventually ending up in refugee camps.
With the emergence of smuggling networks, it is estimated that more than 100.000 Rohingyas have managed to settle in Southeast Asia. According to a United Nations report, they usually had to pay between US $90 (Bt 3.000) and $370 (Bt 12.500) to board a fishing boat, but they were not allowed to leave the ship unless an additional payment of $2.000 was made. $XNUMX was paid.
They were starved and beaten to pressure the family to pay the 'ransom'. According to the UN, those who had no relatives had to work for the smugglers for many months to pay their debts. Some were forced to work in degrading conditions on fishing trawlers and farms. Others were held in camps in the jungles of southern Thailand, pending payment.
It is naive to say that Thai officials knew nothing about the abuses. If officials had not taken a bribe, they would simply have been returned as unwanted aliens. Many local officials are among the more than 50 "traffickers" against whom Thai police have issued arrest warrants.
Despite all the risks, the refugees kept coming. Towards the end of the rainy season in October, Rohingyas and sometimes Bengalis began their risky journey across the Bay of Bengal to Southeast Asia.
In the first quarter of this year, an estimated 25.000 people fled in this way. That number has doubled compared to the first quarters in 2013 and 2014, according to a UN report by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). More than 300 refugees died at sea in the first quarter of this year, bringing the total death toll since October last year to 620, the report said.
The ongoing Thai approach - aimed at pleasing the United States in order to improve Thailand's position for the "Trafficking in Persons" (TIP) report - will not solve the problem. According to the International Organization for Migration, an estimated 8.000 boat people are still floating at sea in the Bay of Bengal because smugglers are afraid to bring them ashore. Their fate is unknown.
Source: Editorial in The Nation, November 6, 2015
Have you ever experienced anything different with the governments in SE Asia?
Corrupt politicians and officials to the bone and a few navel-gazing residents of the nations there… When the Khmer were slaughtering their own people, the Thai elite also only thought about their trade in illegally harvested hardwoods and gems from Cambodia. Millions of dead “foreigners”… so what?
How many Sino-Vietnamese refugees drowned on the way, about 20 years ago?
Now the same thing has been happening for years: rickety ships are forcibly pulled back into the open sea under the motto: drown there, so that your corpses do not wash up on our beaches…
Unfortunately, with all these kinds of problems there is only one solution: to find them in their country of origin, in this case tolerance in Myanmar. Not with flaming protests, but ... if necessary with flaming weapons.
In my opinion, ASEAN should take the initiative to persuade Burma to adopt a different attitude towards the Rohingyas. Because, in my opinion, that is the core of the problem because this population group, which has often lived in Burma for generations, has few rights and is regularly threatened by Buddhist groups. Since there is no war, people can actually return to Burma if the situation in Burma really changes and then temporary shelter from a Buddhist point of view is no more or less than doing a good deed.
Very good that Thailand blog pays attention to this. Nor has it gone unnoticed in the Dutch media these days.
Problems with a low baht/euro exchange rate or costs that banks charge for money transfers/atms melt like ice in the sun when you compare it with the suffering of these refugees. We Dutch have it so good in the Netherlands and Thailand.
Thailand is very concerned about the Rohingya problem. Indonesia and Malaysia, countries where the Rohingya people actually want to go in their boats, are driving them back to the open sea. Myanmar will not take them back. Thailand is doing the same now, dropping off some food, and suggesting that it wants to prepare two uninhabited islands so that reception camps can be established there. I believe that Thailand is undoubtedly morally obliged to do this, now that it has become apparent that all Thai authorities were aware of what was going on with the Rohingya for a long time, tolerated and ignored the atrocities in the camps along the border with Malaysia . Provincial and local governments made a lot of money from it and provided the equipment. I can't help but suffer from the fact that both the EU and the US are keeping a close eye on Thailand and, if necessary, reprimanding it. Thailand is blaming itself a lot, which is precisely what it is trying to prevent as a nation.
In its solution to the problem, Thailand refers to a conference to be held at the end of this month with neighboring countries, Australia and the UN, among others. Only the last 2 have committed to appear. Myanmar as a protagonist, Malaysia and Indonesia as bitten dogs: they have not yet committed. Australia needs to show what it's worth. Her asylum and refugee policy is also objectionable, as she drops refugees on islands near Papua New Guinea.
No solution is expected from Asean's side. The ASEAN countries have agreed not to interfere in each other's internal problems. Trust me Myanmar is definitely taking advantage of this opportunity. We'll see if civilization wins out over indifference. Below are two links to background articles:
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/asia/561419/how-se-asia-created-its-own-humanitarian-crisis
http://www.trouw.nl/tr/nl/4496/Buitenland/article/detail/3976412/2015/04/23/Streng-strenger-en-dan-nog-het-Australische-asielbeleid.dhtml