Rohingyas, members of a stateless Muslim ethnic minority

[Abdul Rehman ZF]

Indonesian authorities have rescued 198 boat people believed to be from Myanmar found floating in a wooden boat off the coast of Aceh, a local government official said on Tuesday.

The all-male group was found in the early hours of Tuesday by local fisherman, vice head of East Aceh district, Nasrudin Abubakar, said by telephone.

"At this moment, 20 people have been hospitalised and the others are in the navy headquarters in east Aceh," Abubakar said.

On Jan. 7, a group of 193 Rohingyas, members of a stateless Muslim ethnic minority from the northwest of army-controlled Myanmar, were also found floating at sea in a wooden boat and taken to a naval base in Sabang in Aceh province.

There has been increased focus on the plight of the former Burma's estimated 800,000 Rohingya, since recent accusations against the Thai military over their treatment of hundreds who flee in rickety wooden boats every year in search of better lives.

Members of the group that landed in Indonesia in January said they had first arrived in Thailand where they alleged they were beaten and later cast adrift.

The Thai army has admitted to towing hundreds far out to sea before cutting them adrift, but has insisted they had adequate food and water and denied persistent reports the boats' engines were sabotaged.

Of 1,000 Rohingya given such treatment since early December, 550 are feared to have drowned.

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[Abdul Rehman ZF]

Malaysia vows action on Myanmar human trafficking

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – Malaysia's prime minister on Friday vowed to investigate a scathing report by U.S. lawmakers saying thousands of Myanmar refugees were handed over to human traffickers and ended up working in Thai brothels.

The U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations said in the report that illegal Myanmar migrants deported from Malaysia were often forced to work in brothels, fishing boats and restaurants across the border in Thailand if they had no money to purchase their freedom.

The report was based on a yearlong review by committee staff who spoke to migrants from military-ruled Myanmar, also known as Burma, and human rights activists.

Prime Minister Najib Razak said his government hopes to get more information on the report from U.S. authorities.

"We will take appropriate action," Najib told reporters. "We do not want Malaysia to be used as a point for human trafficking ... but we need to know more facts."

Earlier this year, former Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar dismissed claims of human trafficking at the border as "wild allegations." But national police chief Musa Hassan said earlier this month that Malaysian and Thai police and immigration officials were investigating the claims.

Many who flee persecution in Myanmar try to stay illegally in Malaysia, which does not recognize refugees and can arrest them, whip them as punishment then deport them.

According to the Senate committee report, "a few thousand" Myanmar migrants in recent years might have become victims of extortion and trafficking once they were deported across Malaysia's northern border with Thailand.

"Upon arrival at the Malaysia-Thailand border, human traffickers reportedly take possession of the migrants," the report said.

The report quoted one unidentified migrant as saying women "are sold at a brothel if they look good. If they are not beautiful, they might sell them at a restaurant or housekeeping job."

It called on Malaysia to investigate and prosecute "the trafficking, selling and slavery of Burmese and other migrants."

"The prospect that Burmese migrants, having fled the heavy hand of the Burmese junta, only to find themselves in harms' way in Malaysia seemed beyond belief," it said.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch said in a statement that Malaysia's government "should act on this U.S. Senate report to protect the rights of refugees and victims of human trafficking."

The U.N. refugee agency has registered 47,600 refugees living in Malaysia as of the end of March, of whom 42,300 were from Myanmar.

Malaysian opposition politician Lim Kit Siang also urged the government to "respond with instant action" to the U.S. report, saying it is "not only most damaging to Malaysia's international image but raises grave questions about Malaysia's human rights commitment."

 

[Abdul Rehman ZF]

Rohingyas claim Myanmar abuse

Al Jazeera has uncovered fresh evidence from Thailand's southwestern coast of another instance of abuse of Muslim Rohingya boat people.

A recently arrived group of refugees say their boat was boarded by soldiers from Myanmar, who beat them and tried to set fire to their vessel.

Al Jazeera's Selina Downes, reporting from the town of Ranong, said that 78 Rohingya migrants were found on a boat near Surin island, located near Thailand's Andaman coast.

They took to the seas in search of work to support their families.

"This group, we are told, have all come from Arakan state in western Myanmar. What they got, they say, was more brutality by one of the harshest military regimes in the world," Downes said.

"One man told us the Burmese Border Security Patrol twice intercepted their boat as it headed south towards Thailand. They say dozens of officers boarded the boat and severely beat them. Many of the men appear to have severe burns to their skin."

The incident appears to be yet another case of the abuses and atrocities committed against a people viewed as defenceless and stateless.

Exploited minority

Myanmar refuses to recognise the Muslim Rohingya minority as a distinct ethnic group.

Who are the Rohingya?

The Rohingya are a Muslim ethnic group from the northern Rakhine state of western Myanmar, formerly known as Arakan state.

Their history dates to the early 7th century, when Arab Muslim traders settled in the area.

They are physically, linguistically and culturally similar to South Asians, especially Bengali people.

According to Amnesty International, they continue to suffer from human rights violations under the Myanmar military government since 1978, and many have fled to neighbouring Bangladesh as a result.

The vast majority of them have effectively been denied Myanmar citizenship.

In 1978 an estimated 200,000 Rohingyas fled to Bangladesh.

In 1991-92 a new wave of an estimated 250,000 Rohingyas fled to the country.

Approximately 20,000 Rohingya are living in UNHCR border camps in Bangladesh.
Human-rights activists say they have been abused and exploited, forcing many to flee abroad, mainly across the border to Bangladesh.

Thousands of Rohingyas and Bangladeshis leave the country aboard rickety boats each year in hopes of finding work, with many travelling to Thailand by sea and then overland to Malaysia.

The Rohingya migrants told Al Jazeera that they each paid a few hundred dollars for the boat journey they thought would take them to a better life.

But by the time the Thai navy found them, they were floundering at sea, trying to keep their boat afloat.

But this time, the Thai authorities did not dump them at sea, but brought them to the mainland to be treated by medical staff.

The Thai military, too, have been accused of human-rights abuses against the Rohingya.

A Thai naval officer confirmed on Monday claims that Rohingya boat people from Myanmar, detained along Thailand's southwestern coast, were taken back out to sea and set adrift.

The naval officer, who declined to be identified, told Al Jazeera: "We have to take the engines off the boats or they will come back.

"The wind will carry them to India or somewhere."

Humanitarian groups have accused Thailand of systematically abusing Rohingya migrants.

The allegations surfaced after accounts emerged of a group of Rohingyas who were beaten and then towed back out to sea by Thai soldiers.

Reports from survivors who washed up on India's Andaman islands and northwest Indonesia suggested as many as 550 of the 992 towed out to sea by Thai soldiers later died.

The Thai authorities who rescued the latest group of Rohingya migrants, told Al Jazeera that once these men are processed by immigration, they too will be pushed back out of Thailand by land or, more likely, by sea.

 

[Abdul Rehman ZF]

Myanmar minority group in peril

Title Myanmar minority group in peril
Publisher Amnesty International
Country Myanmar
Publication Date 2 February 2009
Cite as Amnesty International, Myanmar minority group in peril, 2 February 2009. Online. UNHCR Refworld, available at: http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/498703931e.html [accessed 3 February 2009]
Myanmar minority group in peril

Hundreds of Myanmar's Rohingya people are missing at sea and many more are at risk of drowning after Thai authorities forcibly expelled large groups of Rohingyas seeking refuge.

Thousands of Rohingyas, a Muslim minority from Rakhine State, western Myanmar (formerly Burma), who have been subjected to years of persecution in Myanmar, have fled in recent months on boats sailing for Thailand and Malaysia.

However, the Thai military forcibly expelled around 1,000 Rohingyas arriving in southwest Thailand by boat, while the Indian and Indonesian authorities have rescued hundreds of them. Hundreds of Rohingyas are missing or have died after the Thai security forces set them adrift in unseaworthy boats with little or no food and water.

"The Rohingya's situation has reached a critical stage over the last two months. The Thai government must stop forcibly expelling Rohingyas and provide them with immediate humanitarian assistance and cease any plans to proceed with more expulsions," said Sam Zarifi, Amnesty International's Asia-Pacific Director.

Indonesia announced on Thursday that it was still determining the fate of almost 200 Rohingyas and Bangladeshis who had landed in Weh Island, Aceh province on 7 January. The Indian navy have rescued hundreds of Rohingyas on or near the Andaman Islands.

In light of the plight of the Rohingyas, Amnesty International has urged Myanmar to stop the systematic persecution of the group. Amnesty International has also urged Myanmar's neighbours to provide the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) immediate access to all Rohingyas in their territory and to ratify the UN Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, its 1967 Protocol, and the UN Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons.

"The governments of Bangladesh, Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Myanmar, Thailand and India must also fulfil their obligation to provide assistance to those in distress at sea, regardless of nationality, status or circumstances, and to provide a search and rescue service."

"We welcome Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's stated commitment to convene a regional forum on the Rohingyas. It is only through a regional initiative, involving Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar and Thailand, and with the participation of UNHCR, that a durable solution can be found to the plight of the Rohingyas," said Sam Zarifi.

"Any regional solution must ensure that those Rohingyas who have a well-founded fear of persecution in Myanmar are not returned there."

For the last three decades, hundreds of thousands of Rohingyas have fled systematic persecution to neighbouring countries in Asia, the vast majority to Bangladesh. Within Myanmar, the Rohingyas suffer from specific deeply discriminatory policies targeting them. They are denied citizenship and are thus effectively stateless.

Rohingyas who are returned to Myanmar continue to be at serious risk of human rights violations, including forced labour, forced eviction, land confiscation, and severe restrictions on freedom of movement.
Read More
Open letter to the governments of Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar and Thailand (29 January, 2009)

Topics: Rohingya (Arakanese), Asylum-seekers,

 

[Abdul Rehman ZF]

Rohingyas, a shunned Muslim minority,

Myanmar’s unwanted human flotsam

OF ALL the myriad groups fleeing the misery of modern Myanmar, few have suffered more than the Rohingyas, a shunned Muslim minority, concentrated in Rakhine state. Denied full citizenship at home, many end up in Bangladesh, where some 200,000 live in squalid border camps. Another 28,000 are housed by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The lure of further migration is strong. Every winter thousands pay to board rickety smugglers’ boats for Thailand, whence a bus can take them to Malaysia, to seek work or asylum.

This season Thailand’s soldiers had a nasty surprise in store. After being held for days on a remote island off Ranong, two groups of nearly 1,000 captured Rohingyas and Bangladeshis were forced, at gunpoint, out to sea in the Indian Ocean on several boats. The vessels had little food and, crucially, no engines. Some drifted west to India’s Andaman islands. Others washed up in Indonesia’s Aceh province. Over 500 are believed missing or dead, according to a tally of survivors’ accounts. One group of over 400 refugees was set adrift on a barge with two sacks of rice and two gallons of water. Most perished trying to swim ashore. On January 7th the Indonesian navy rescued another group of 192. Others may have been lost at sea.

For Thailand, the survivors’ accounts, provided to far-flung authorities in India and Indonesia, as well as to human-rights groups and reporters, are damning, to say the least. Sending refugees back to danger is bad enough. Casting them adrift to die is much worse. In the past, Rohingya refugees caught in Thailand were handed over to the immigration authorities, says Chris Lewa, a longtime advocate for Rohingya rights. Many were later quietly sold to traffickers, either to work as slave labour in Thailand or, preferably, to continue their journey to Malaysia.

Nearly 5,000 have been detained in Thailand in the past two years. Many more probably went undetected. But the military mindset has changed: undocumented Muslim men travelling through southern Thailand, where a Muslim-led separatist insurgency has raged for five years, are now a no-no. Army officials claim, without any evidence, that Rohingyas are joining the insurgency. This is cited as justification for a harsh expulsion policy, as a deterrent. UNHCR officials have tried to alert restless refugees in Bangladesh of the dangers. The agency is also pressing the Thai authorities to grant it access to 126 Rohingya boat people believed to be still in detention.

The prime minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva, has said reports of abandonment at sea are “exaggerated”, but has promised a full investigation. The army has issued blanket denials of any ill treatment without fully explaining what actually happened to the shipwrecked Rohingyas. The abuses date from before Mr Abhisit took office last month. But they put him in a tough spot. He has also promised to tackle abuses by the army in combating the southern insurgency, including the alleged torture and murder of Muslim suspects in custody. Last month a court in the region ruled that soldiers had tortured and beaten to death a Muslim preacher. Justice is sorely lacking in the south. Mr Abhisit, to his credit, has promised to put that right. But going toe-to-toe with the army brass, who helped him into office, will test his political courage.

 

[zainab bala]

may Allah reward you, it was quite interesting.

 

[Abdul Rehman ZF]

U.S. wants Myanmar to stop persecution of Rohingyas

DHAKA (Reuters) - The United States wants Mynamar to stop hounding Rohingya Muslims, a stateless minority from the former Burma's northwest region, Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher said on Sunday.

"It's a matter of concern and the U.S wants that Myanmar stops the persecution of Rohingyas," Boucher said during a visit to Bangladesh.

He said attention had been drawn to the plight of the boat people landing in Thailand and Indonesia over the past weeks.

"The U.S. was aware of the fleeing of Rohingyas from Myanmar for persecution and economic reasons," Boucher told a news conference before leaving Bangladesh after a two-day visit.

The plight of Myanmar's estimated 800,000 Rohingya, has been in the headlines since reports of serial abuse of the migrants by the Thai military.

According to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), 230,000 Rohingya now live a precarious, stateless existence in Bangladesh, having fled decades of abuse and harassment at the hands of Myanmar's military rulers.

Indonesia last week detained 198 Rohingyas after finding them floating in a boat off the coast of Aceh. They had been at sea for 21 days.

Last month the Thai army admitted towing hundreds far out to sea before abandoning them, but insisted they had food and water and denied reports the boats' engines were sabotaged.

Of 1,000 Rohingya given such treatment since early December, 550 are thought to have drowned.

Boucher said he visited Dhaka to see how the new U.S. administration could work with the new government and opposition in Bangladesh.

He met Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, several ministers and Begum Khaleda Zia, former prime minister and now leader of the opposition.

"The U.S. wants to work with Bangladesh against terrorism and corruption," he said. "We also want to see regional response to Bangladesh proposal to form a South Asian task force to fight terrorism."

Hasina assumed power on Jan. 6 following a landslide win in the Dec. 29 election. She had floated the idea of a regional task force after the terror attacks in Mumbai in November, in which 179 people were killed.

Boucher said the U.S. wanted democracy to flourish in this south Asian country with parliament as a pivot.

 

[Abdul Rehman ZF]

Weep for the Rohingyas too

WHY do we decry the sufferings of one people and turn a blind eye to the sufferings of another? Why does the misery of the Palestinians in Gaza tear at our hearts while we remain largely indifferent to the plight of the Rohingyas in our neighbourhood?

Just like the Palestinians, the Rohingyas have suffered horrendous injustices under a brutal regime. They are stateless, denied the right to travel, to medical care, to education; they are subjected to forced labour and arbitrary confiscation of property. Can we blame them for wanting to flee?

And flee to what? To more persecution? To more wretchedness? In Bangladesh 250,000 have been languishing for years in camps in deplorable conditions, without proper shelter, food or clean water.

In Thailand, they are pushed out to sea to drown. In Malaysia they exist in the shadows, fearful of arrests and deportation. As far as Malaysia is concerned, an immigration officer told Al-Jazeera, we have no refugee problem since Malaysia did not sign the 1951 Geneva Convention.

We can do better than this. No human being should be in this situation. Whether we call them refugees or illegals, these are human beings with the same hope, the same aspiration for a decent life as all of us. What right do we have to deny them? What right do we have to pick and choose whom we want to help?

If we can weep for the Palestinians in Gaza, then we should also shed a tear for the Rohingyas. If we can raise millions for the Gazan Palestinians, we should also extend a helping hand to our “Asian Palestinians.” We have to and we must. Failure to do so will only diminish us.

 

[Abdul Rehman ZF]

The advent of Islam in Arakan and the Rohingyas

The advent of Islam in Arakan and the Rohingya presented at the Seminar organised by Arakan Historical Society at Chittagong Zila Parishad Hall, Chittagong, on December 31, 1995, with Co-operation Chittagong University.

Dr.Mohammed Ali Chowdhury



Arakan is one of the states of the union of Burma adjoining Bangladesh. It comprises of a strip of land along the eastern coast of the Bay of Bengal from the Naf river on the border of Chittagong to the cape Negarise. It lies between the Arakan Yuma range and the Bay of Bengal. As a natural Physiographic unit-the whole region of Arakan is separated from the rest of Burma by this Yuma range running north to south. The total area of Arakan is over 13,540 square miles and its population almost 20, 00,000.1



The Arakanese chronicles claim that the Kingdom was founded in the year 2666 B,C,2 For many centuries Arakan had been an independent kingdom due to its geographical location with occasional short breaks. It was ruled by various legendary Indian dynasties and they made their capital at Dinnawadi (Dhanyavati), Wesali, Pinsa, Parin, Hkril, Launggyet and Mrohaung along the river Lemro.3 in the 8th century A. D. we come across a ruling family with the surname 'Chandra'. The rule of the kings is believed to have often extended as far as Chittagong -Wesali infact has been described as an "Easternly Hindu Kingdom of Bengal" from a study of the coins and foreign relations, M.S.Collis came to conclusion that,



“The area known as North Arakan had been for many years before the 8th century the seat of Hindu dynasties; in 788 A.D. a new dynasty, known as the Chandras, founded the city of Wesali; this city became a noted trade port to which as many as a thousand ships came annually; the Chandra kings were upholders of Buddhism,...their territory extended as far north as Chittagong; -- -Wesali was an easterly Hindu kingdom of Bengal -"Both government and people were Indian.”4



In support of the above fact D.G.E. Hall also mentions, “The Burmese do not seem to have settled in Arakan until possibly as late as the tenth century A.D. Hence earlier dynesties are thought to have been Indian, ruling over a population similar to that of Bengal. All the capitals known to history have been in the north near modern Akyab.”5



The ruins of old capital of Arakan - Wesali show Hindu statues and inscriptions of the 8th century A.D. Although the Chandras usually held Buddhistic doctrines, there is reason to believe that Brahmanism and Buddhism flourished side by side in the capital.



The Arab Muslims first came Into contact with Arakan through trade and commerce during the 8th century A.D. and since then Islam started spreading in the region. After the advent of Islam in Arabia, the Muslims followed the footprints of their fore-fathers in trade and commerce. These Muslim Arab merchants made contact with Arakan. In those days the Arabs were very much active in sea-trade, they even monopolised trade and commerce in the East. As Dr. Rahim rightly remaks.6



“In the 8th and 9th centuries of the Christian era, the Arabs were foremost sea-faring and maritime people of the world and the Arab merchants sailed across all waters to far off countries of the east and the west..... The eastern trade of the Arab merchants flourished so much so that the Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal turned into Arab lakes".



In the family history of the Arakanese kings Ra-dz-Wang, it is recorded that during the reign of Arakanese king Mahat-y-ing Chandayat (780-810 A.D.) several Kula or foreign ships were wrecked upon the island of Rarnree, and the people who boarded on them were said to be Muslims. These ship-wrecked Muslim sailors settled in the villages of Arakan as the Arakanese king ordered when they were taken before him.7 This is an important piece of evidence in support of the assumption that the Arab traders had contact with Arakan, just adjacent lo Bengal, as early as the 8th century A.D.



There are frequent references to the Arab Muslims settlers in coastal regions of Arakan from the 8th century onward. On the basis of the various Arab and Persian sources Mr.Siddique Khan states as follows: 8



"To the maritime Arabs and Persians the various ports of the land of Burma and more specially the coastal regions of Arakan......were well known. Naturally, therefore, when from the 8th

 

[Abdul Rehman ZF]

Thailand vows to deport all Rohingyas, no asylum

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand has no plans to open a camp for boat people arriving from neighbouring Myanmar and would continue its policy of deporting them, Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban said on Wednesday.

Rohingya migrants reaching western Thai shores would receive humane treatment, including provision of food and water, but would be deported as illegal aliens, Suthep told reporters.

"Thailand has no intention of opening any refugee camp. We cannot afford carrying the burden of taking care of another 200,000-300,000 people," Suthep, who oversees national security, said.

"They come from Myanmar and that is where they will be deported to," he said.

The plight of Myanmar's estimated 800,000 Rohingya, a stateless Muslim minority from the former Burma's northwest, has been in the headlines since reports of serial abuse of the migrants by the Thai military.

Rickety wooden boats crowded with hundreds of Rohingya have reached Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia in the last two months, the latest in an annual trickle of people fleeing by sea in search of better lives.

Indonesia is questioning 198 Rohingya after finding them floating in a boat off the coast of Aceh this week after 21 days at sea.

Despite pleas from some of the men that they faced death if sent back to Myanmar, Jakarta has said so far it considers them economic migrants who would be deported.

Last month, the Thai army admitted towing hundreds far out to sea before abandoning them, but insisted they had food and water and denied reports the boats' engines were sabotaged.

Of 1,000 Rohingya given such treatment since early December, 550 are thought to have drowned.

Although most Rohingya are heading for Malaysia, where a sizeable diaspora lives, 1,000 Thais in the southern province of Ranong protested on Tuesday against the migrants, saying they would not allow any sort of temporary refugee shelter.

According to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), 230,000 Rohingya now live a precarious, stateless existence in Bangladesh, having fled decades of abuse and harassment at the hands of Myanmar's Buddhist military rulers.