BANGKOK: On the surface, Thailand’s decision to allow hundreds of Rohingya refugees to remain inside the country temporarily for six months as illegal immigrants seemed a commendable move. However, upon deeper scrutiny it showed the government’s kneejerk manner of responding to the influx of “new boat people” from the Bay of Bengal and the overall recklessness among intra-government agencies.

Worse still was the view held by the secretary-general of the National Security Council, Lt-Gen Paradon Pattanathaboot, who continues to be in a state of denial, believing that the Rohingya are not victims of a region-wide human trafficking operation. The Thai authorities believe they are victims of human smugglers who dump them in Thailand before they go to Malaysia.

By: Khalid Iqbal

The United Nations considers Rohingyas of Myanmar as a persecuted religious and linguistic minority. Myanmar considers this community, of about 800,000, settled in Rakhine, as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

Despite their continuous residential reality, Myanmar is reluctant to grant them their due citizenship rights. Last year, a statement by Burmese President Thein Sein that “all Rohingyas should either be deported or placed in refugee camps” sparked a mass exodus.

Needless to say, Buddhist Rakhine and Muslim Rohingya communities have co-existed for generations. They are now being forcibly segregated. Barriers have been erected across the roads in the state capital and the homes of thousands of Rakhine people have been destroyed. The divide between Buddhists and ethnic Muslims echoes of similar happenings in the Balkans.

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s navy yesterday rescued 138 Bangladeshis and Myanmar nationals from a sinking fishing vessel off the island’s east coast, officials said.

One passenger was found dead while many of the 138 plucked from the boat were dehydrated, said navy spokesman Kosala Warnakulasuriya, adding that the vessel had been adrift for 10 days before it sank yesterday.

“We sent three ships for the rescue at a location 80km off the eastern coast of Akkaraipattu,” Warnakulasuriya said. “Some have been admitted to a local hospital.”

Police said 14 were Myanmar nationals while the others were Bangladeshis.

Fifteen of the survivors, including two women and two children, were hospitalised with acute dehydration, police said in a statement.

“We have difficulty in communicating with the survivors so we have asked the two embassies to send us translators,” police spokesman Prishantha Jayakody said.

About 145 Rohingya boat people were found crammed inside a vessel without food or water for 48 hours off Mook island in Trang’s Sikao district on Sunday.

The refugees told authorities that they were headed to  Malaysia but their food and water had run out before they reached shore. Feeling exhausted and fatigued from hunger, they then decided to float their vessel off Mook island in the hope of being able to ask for food and water from the locals before they would go on, Pol Col Arthit Damsanit, chief of Marine Police Division 9, said.

At the root of the problem is the fact that Myanmar’s constitution and internal laws do not recognise the Rohingya as citizens, he said. Other groups in Myanmar don’t accept the Rohingya, who are based mainly in Rakhine and number about 800,000 in all, he said, adding: “This has to be dealt with gradually, as Myanmar authorities are worried about intervention from the outside world.”

“The United Nations has been working on the Rohingya issue, but has to be careful in dealing with it, and Asean needs to address it, especially on humanitarian grounds,” he said.