ROHINGYA: FROM PERSECUTION TO INDIFFERENCE

July 28, 2012

The Rohingya, a Muslim community of about 800,000 people who live in the Rakhine State in western Myanmar, are not welcome in their own country. That is official: the president, Thein Sein, actually said so. Their persecution borders on ethnic cleansing, as they flee to Bangladesh on their west and Thailand to the east; but they are not welcomed there either.

A few years ago there were several instances reported of Rohingya refugees being dragged out to sea in barges by Thai military and left there to drift. The situation in Thailand has improved somewhat, but the policy is still to "help" them on. Even local villagers are being trained to detect and ward off potential refugees, so that they do not stop at Phuket or along the Andaman coast.

The situation in Bangladesh is no better. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, whose country has been accused by human rights organisations of relinquishing its responsibility towards the refugees, has also talked of "helping" the refugees. Speaking to Al Jazeera yesterday, while on a trip to the UK, she made light of the accusations and emphasised the support the Rohingya were receiving from Bangladesh to return home. She said that criticism should be placed at the door of Myanmar's regime where it squarely belongs. She has a point, but that can be said of almost any situation where help is required. Having said that, Bangladesh is a poor country; how much can it actually do?

Thailand, too, has its own problems. Only today it has been reported that a group of Muslim militants ambushed a contingent of soldiers, in the south of the country, killing four and wounded another two, while last Wednesday a roadside bomb killed five policemen.

Helping others is not always easy, be they friends or strangers, but it is these difficult decisions that define our humanity as individuals, or as nations.



"Non ragioniam di lor, ma guarda e passa..." Can only be uttered in hell: Dante's or the one we ourselves create.