Myanmar's chance to help Rohingya

(Opinion - Bangkok Post 14/06/2012)

 

Is the sectarian violence between the Rohingya Muslims and Buddhists in Rakhine state threatening the nascent democracy in Myanmar? That is the question the world is asking.

Not Abu, however.

A Rohingya migrant who fled harsh persecution in Myanmar to live in Thailand 25 years ago, Abu is asking the world a different question.

"I watched with pain Muslims' houses being set on fire with soldiers standing by doing nothing to stop it. Why? Is this part of the plan to purge us?" he asked.

When the terrified Rohingya fled the violence to Bangladesh, they were turned away. "Myanmar does not want us. Bangladesh does not want us. Our suffering has been exposed to the world. Now what is the world going to do about it?" he asked.

Dubbed the forgotten people, the Rohingya in Myanmar are among the world's most persecuted ethnic minorities.

Despised by the Buddhist majority who view them as illegal outsiders, the dark-skinned Rohingya Muslims struggle in abject poverty.

They are denied citizenship, education, freedom of movement, employment, and the right to own property in a land which they also consider to belong to their ancestors.

"We cannot even get married without state permission," Abu said. Forced labour and rape by security forces are common, he added.

Despite the arguments on who had triggered the communal violence, the plight of the Rohingya is real. The racism is real.

And the fact that it is the Muslim Rohingya who must flee for safety also speak volumes about the situation there.

The longstanding persecution has forced Rohingya men to migrate in droves as "boat people", risking their lives on the sea to seek work opportunities outside Myanmar.

For many, it is the beginning of new tragedies.

Thailand serves as a half-way stop to Malaysia, the Rohingya Muslims' preferred destination. For those who cannot pay for the rest of the journey, they will be sent to work on rubber plantations by the human trafficking rackets led by Rohingya mafia with police connections.

The unlucky ones are sold as slaves to fishing trawler owners. Many die on board and their bodies are thrown into the sea.

That is why Abu still considers himself fortunate. He belonged to an old wave of Rohingya refugees who quietly trickled into Thailand two or three decades ago. Thanks to their small number, they managed to live and work underground by paying protection money to the police and the Rohingya mafia. Many work as roti vendors on the streets.

Many have Thai wives and children. Like Abu, they remain stateless and have to live under constant fear of deportation and being torn apart from their families.

Despite the risks from human trafficking rackets, the communal violence in Rakhine will lead to an increase in the number of Rohingya boat people seeking safety on Thai shores. What should Thailand do? What should Myanmar do? What should the world do?

Unless the world applies pressure on Myanmar to review its inhumane treatment of the Rohingya, and unless the government cracks down on human traffickers and corrupt officials, the tragedies of the Rohingya boat people will never end. The sad possibility is that world is likely to look the other way, given the vast economic potential which Myanmar holds.

Abu's worst fear is that the Thai government will choose the easy way out by deporting easy targets such as himself to show that it is doing something about Rohingya immigrants.

"But where can I go? No countries want us. We're treated as if we are not human beings, being forced to live underground and in fear wherever we are.

"I have a family here, but every day I live in fear of arrest and deportation.

"All I want is to be recognised as a person too, and a chance to taste a life of freedom.

"I'm getting old, and I'm afraid that I will die without knowing what it's like to live without fear," he said.

(Sanitsuda Ekachai is Assistant Editor, Bangkok Post)

MASYARAKAT ISLAM UYGHUR XINJIANG: ABIM MOHON PEMBELAAN DAN PERHATIAN SEWAJARNYA 19 OGOS 2011 / 19 RAMADHAN 1432H

Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia (ABIM) memandang berat laporan tekanan yang dikenakan ke atas masyarakat Islam Uyghur berikutan beberapa siri keganasan yang melanda wilayah Xinjiang baru-baru ini.  Ini termasuklah laporan yang diterima berkenaan larangan yang dikenakan ke atas masyarakat Islam Uyghur untuk menunaikan ibadah puasa dan amalan-amalan lain yang disyariatkan dalam Islam, yang sekaligus melanggar hak asasi masyarakat tersebut di sisi undang-undang antarabangsa.

ABIM menilai tekanan-tekanan politik ini serta larangan yang dikenakan ke atas masyarakat ini, telah mengakibatkan sebahagian daripada mereka telah meninggalkan China dan terpaksa hidup sebagai orang pelarian, termasuklah ke Malaysia.  Menyedari ini, ABIM menggesa UNHCR untuk memberikan perlindungan serta bantuan yang sewajarnya kepada pelarian Uyghur ini serta tidak menghantar mereka pulang ke negara asal mereka.

Desakan ini dibuat  memandangkan pelarian Uyghur ini  menepati  definisi yang ditetapkan dalam artikel 1 Konvensyen Geneva 1967 mengenai orang perlarian yang berbunyi;

"A person who owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country; or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his former habitual residence as a result of such events, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it”

Mengambil kesempatan ini, ABIM juga ingin memanjangkan aduan yang diterima dari wakil komuniti Uyghur mengenai beberapa orang rakan mereka yang ditahan oleh pihak berkuasa di Malaysia. Dengan mengambil status mereka sebagai pelarian politik serta dasar perikemanusiaan yang universal, ABIM memohon jasa pihak berkuasa di Malaysia untuk membebaskan beberapa orang masyarakat Islam Uyghur yang ditahan di negara ini.

ABIM akan terus memantau situasi semasa yang berlaku di Xinjiang serta terus mengetengahkannya ke khalayak masyarakat di negara ini agar nasib komuniti Islam Uyghur di Xinjiang mendapat pembelaan serta perhatian yang sewajarnya daripada pihak-pihak yang berkenaan .

“MENEGAKKAN KEBENARAN DAN KEADILAN”

MOHAMAD RAIMI AB RAHIM

Setiausaha Agung, Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia (ABIM)

Rohingya Education Centre REC

REC

Rohingya Education Centre REC adalah usaha murni pertubuhan bukan kerajaan Future Global Network FGN bersama WADAH Pulau Pinang yang diamanahkan oleh UNHCR Malaysia bagi menjalankan pendidikan formal kepada anak-anak pelarian Rohingya. Pusat ini beroperasi sejak Julai 2010 di Taman Arowana, Permatang Pauh, Pulau Pinang.

Satu majlis perasmian telah diadakan sempena pembukaan pusat ini. Program di mulakan dgn ucapan pengacara majlis yang merupakan waris pelajar Madrasah Uthmaniah ABIM Sg Gelugor. Ini diikuti dengan persembahan pelajar Rohingya, nyanyian pelajar perempuan dengan lagu dalam Bahasa Melayu bertajuk "assalamu'alaikum" Kumpulan pelajar lelaki pula melagukan nasyid "my mother". Kemudian, ucapan aluan wakil pelajar perempuan dalam Bahasa Melayu. Wakil pelajar lelaki pula berucap dalam Bahasa Inggeris yang lancar dengan nada Hindi .

Tuan Haji Ahmad Azam Abd Rahman mewakili FGN dan Tuan Haji Abd Halim Ismail, setiausaha agong WADAH Pusat turut memberikan ucapan. Pada ucapan perasmian Ms Anna Maria Pelosi, Wakil UNHCR, beliau memberikan ucapan yang rata-rata yang hadir menganggap baik dan memberangsangkan. beliau menasihati dan menyarankan para pelajar Rohingya supaya menghargai negara ini, jasa dan baktinya, rakyat dan masyarakatnya serta suasana aman dan damai untuk mereka gigih menjalani pendidikan.

Para pelajar telah menghadiahkan lukisan " dari hati mereka" - from their heart, satu lukisan tangan yang dibingkaikan. Para tetamu melawat kelas serta mendengar taklimat pengetua REC.

Jamuan disediakan untuk semua tetamu termasuk waris pelajar Rohingya yang berusaha menyediakan sajian menu negara asal mereka. Alhamdulillah, sekitar 300 orang Rohingya dan tetamu lain hadir.

Latarbelakang

Rohingya merupakan kumpulan etnik minoriti Islam yang tinggal di Arakan, barat Myanmar. Mereka sering dinafikan hak asasi, sehingga sebahagian besar mereka tidak diberikan kerakyatan oleh pemerintah Myanmar. Mereka tertakluk kepada pelbagai jenis peras ugut seperti terpaksa membayar cukai secara arbitrari, rampasan tanah, meroboh rumah kediaman, pengusiran dan sebagainya. Mereka digunakan sebagai buruh paksa bagi membina jalan dan bekerja di kem-kem tentera. Masyarakat Rohingya juga tidak dibenarkan mengamalkan ajaran Islam dan mengadakan apa jua majlis yang bercorak keagamaan. Pemberian Zakat dan penyembelihan binatang qurban juga tidak dibenarkan kerana dikatakan menggugat ekonomi orang ramai di seluruh negara Myanmar.

Pada tahun 1978 masyarakat Islam Rohingya menghadapi pembunuhan dan pengusiran oleh masyarakat beragama Buddha yang disokong oleh tentera pemerintah. Akibatnya, beribu-ribu melarikan diri keluar negara - terpaksa merempat di Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Thailand, Pakistan dan Malaysia. (FGN)

Education for Refugees

Education centers for refugee children are run by an NGO partner on behalf of UNHCR, while others are community-based education centers organised by the refugee communities themselves where UNHCR provides support, including volunteer teachers, where possible.

As of end November 2010, there are some 19,800 Rohingya refugees and asylum-seekers registered with UNHCR in Malaysia.

Refugees live in quiet ways within Malaysian society, till people sometimes do not realise they exist, nor understand the circumstances that compelled them to flee their homeland with virtually nothing to their name but the clothes on their backs.

For most refugees, their deepest wish is to go home again. But until long term solutions can be found for them, they need the compassion and the understanding of Malaysians to help them survive here.

Education for refugee children is recognised as a universal human right but very few refugees have access to formal education. The absence of education among refugee children will become a handicap for them as they grow up. It inhibits their opportunity to better their lives, creating a possible second generation of an illiterate and unskilled community. (UNHCR)