Doctors Without Borders describes the Rohingya as the world’s largest stateless people. If that isn’t enough, they are also the most persecuted ethnic minority group in the world.
The reason isn’t hard to fathom. Despite being there for centuries, the Rohingya, mostly Muslims from the state of Rakhine, are denied citizenship in wave after wave of laws passed by the Buddhist-majority government of the day.
Racism is a deep-rooted problem in Myanmar. Even after becoming a member of Asean, the military regime continues its genocide against the Rohingya.
This is the root cause of the exodus of the ethnic group into neighbouring countries — if the majority of boats don’t sink, that is.
Many do, like what happened in Langkawi recently. Greedy Malaysian human traffickers are working with international syndicates to take them on the perilous journey on decrepit boats.
The authorities are saying that the migrant boat tragedy bears the hallmark of a structured human trafficking network, with survivors claiming that they each paid about 400,000 taka — roughly RM13,000 — to secure their passage.
The survivors who spoke to the police told of selling property, land and even livestock to escape the persecution in Myanmar.
As it turned out for the many, it was death in Rakhine or at sea — literally, a choice between the devil that the Myanmar military is and the deep blue sea.As of Monday, 18 bodies, including that of a 5-year-old child, were found drifting in the waters off Langkawi.
On Tuesday, more bodies were found, bringing the total number of bodies discovered in the joint Malaysian-Thai mission to 25.
Another 230 undocumented migrants are said to be adrift at sea in two boats between Malaysian and Thai waters.Coastguards from the two countries are working to track the main group.
The authorities believe that the migrants departed Buthidaung, Myanmar, nearly a month ago on a “mother vessel” carrying about 300 people.
As it neared the Thailand-Malaysia maritime boundary, the group was split into three boats — the main vessel and two smaller ones.
One of the smaller boats, which carried about 70 people, is believed to have capsized, leaving many migrants still unaccounted for.
This newspaper quoted Kedah and Perlis Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) director First Admiral Romli Mustafa as saying that the MMEA is being supported by other agencies in expanding the search area to 272.78 square nautical miles.
The Rohingya humanitarian crisis has been crying for the world’s attention for the longest time, but neither the United Nations nor the United States have been able to stop the Myanmar government’s genocide against the Rohingya.
Putrajaya‘s and our police’s anti-trafficking plans can only do so much because they do not tackle the root cause — which is the Myanmar government’s persecution of the Rohingya.
So long as this continues, the exodus will never end. Neither will the death toll.
The international community must hold the military junta led by Min Aung Hlaing accountable for the genocide of the Rohingya and the atrocities that have been going on since the coup in 2021.
© New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd
