EDITORIALS

Adrift and Alone

The plight of the Rohingya is a test for Asias humanitarian instinct.

acked like sardines, starving, sick and desperate, thousands

of people are currently adrift in the waters of the Indian
Ocean. No one wants them; neither the country that they
call home, nor the country others insist is their home, nor the
countries near whose shores their precarious boats drift. The
desperation of the latest boat people, the Rohingya of Myanmar, reminds us yet again of the urgent need for countries to
formulate humanitarian policies that address such crises.
The root of this crisis, and the long-term solution, has to be laid
at the door of Myanmar, where successive governments have
refused to recognise the Rohingya as citizens. Despite Myanmar
having 135 distinct ethnic groups, the Rohingya, who are Muslims
originally brought into Burma as labour by the British colonial
power from what is now Bangladesh, are denied that recognition.
Their persecution is not a new story; in 1978, under Operation
Dragon King and again in 1991, under Operation Clean and
Beautiful Nation, thousands of Rohingyas fled to Thailand,
Malaysia, Indonesia and even Bangladesh. In 2012, ethnic clashes
between Buddhists and Rohingyas displaced over one lakh people.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
estimates that between June 2012 and June 2014, an estimated
87,000 people from the MyanmarBangladesh border area left in
search of refuge. Despite the political change in Myanmar and its
move towards democracy, the present-day government of Myanmar
refuses to address the issue of the rights of the Rohingyas. Most
disappointing in this context has been the silence of Nobel
Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, who appears to have chosen the path of political expediency in the face of strong antiMuslim sentiment in her Buddhist majority country.
To understand the ethnic twist given to this problem, one has to
listen to the statements made by the leaders of the anti-Rohingya
campaign in Myanmar. Many of them are disturbingly similar to
those made by members of the Sangh Parivar here. Ashin
Wirathu, the Mandalay-based Buddhist monk who spearheads the
campaign, speaks of Muslim hordes coming into Myanmar and
warns: Muslims reproduce like rabbits; they want to kill us with
swords; they want to conquer uswe have to defend ourselves
and our religion. This, in a country where 90% of the population is
Buddhist. But paranoia knows no logic, as we know well in this
country. As a result of the heightened ethnic tension created by
such talk, no political party, including the one to which Aung San
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Suu Kyi belongs, is willing to take a stand to defend this minority against an overwhelming Buddhist majority.
For decades, the estimated 8,00,000 Rohingyas in Myanmars Rakhine province bordering Bangladesh have led a precarious existence without citizenship rights. Today, in the wake
of increasing ethnic violence, thousands of them are being compelled to take the highly risky route by sea by paying human
smugglers so that they can find refuge somewhere, anywhere.
But that promised land that will give them even temporary solace appears virtually unreachable as country after country
adopts the policy of pushing back these leaky boats and at most
giving the people in them temporary assistance. Thailand and
Malaysia have forced the boats back at gunpoint. Although
Indonesias Aceh province has offered shelter to a little over a
thousand refugees, its doors remain closed. The Philippines has
been sympathetic and offered help. Australia remains unapologetically unsympathetic. Neither India, China nor Bangladesh
has expressed any sympathy.
There are, of course, two separate issues here; one that relates to Myanmars internal policies and another to how countries should respond in the face of a humanitarian crisis, even if
it is man-made. For the former, the international community,
which rushed into Myanmar when it sensed its economic potential, can use its clout to urge the Myanmar government to deal
with this long-festering problem. India is reportedly investing
$120 million to build a port in Rakhine province while China
has a 35-year plan to build railways, ports and special economic
zones there. Surely both these nations, who project themselves
as the big powers in the region, are well placed to use their economic and political influence with the Myanmar government.
Their indifference makes a telling statement.
The immediate need is to address the urgent humanitarian crisis of an estimated 4,000 Rohingya women, men and children
drifting without food or medicines in the Bay of Bengal. Irrespective of how their citizenship issue is resolved, surely nations in the
vicinity cannot turn a blind eye to their suffering. As the UNHCR
points out in a statement, vulnerable people around the world
are moving in search of safety and dignity, fleeing persecution, abject poverty, deprivation, discrimination and abuse. Even if this
is a global phenomenon, right now it is incumbent on the nations
in the Asian region to step in and help.
may 23, 2015

vol l no 21

EPW

Economic & Political Weekly