It’s time to #SaveRohingya

This week has been a devastating one. In an act of selfishness and utter lack of compassion, we have been the worst type of neighbour. At a time when our neighbour needs us the most, we have not only refused to stretch out a helping hand, we have gone out of our way to turn them away.

News of a large group of Rohingya refugees and Bangladeshi migrants arriving in Langkawi started trickling in on Monday. With each update, it was becoming clear that the situation was dire. Rickety sea vessels abandoned by traffickers, overcrowded with refugees and migrants, stranded at sea without drinking water, food and sanitation.

Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha was reported to have said: “As there are many of them, we cannot look after them properly. Where will we put them? Right now we have to find a place for them to stay. In the future, if many more of them come, it will cause a problem. They will steal the jobs and livelihoods of Thais."

Unfortunately, this sentiment seems to be shared by the Malaysian government as well as some of its citizens.  "We are doing what we think we should do. We have to consider what our people want to see us doing. They don't want to see immigrants come into our country," said Deputy Home Minister Datuk Seri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar.  This was the basis for defending the country’s position of turning back vessels carrying the boats full of Rohingya and Bangladeshis, as well as its threat of deporting the Rohingya back to Myanmar.

As a country, we do not officially recognise refugees and asylum seekers, which in turn means that they have no rights to basic education, healthcare and employment. Despite being granted the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) card, refugees and asylum seekers are considered illegal immigrants in Malaysia.

To equate refugees as illegal immigrants is not only fallacious but also dangerous. Refugees are those who have been forced to leave their home country because of persecution, and in the case of the Rohingya, they are one of the most persecuted peoples in the world.

In 1980, the Myanmar government wrote the Rohingya out of the constitution, stripping them of any citizenship rights. For the past three decades and counting, the Rohingya have been subjected to extreme violence, trafficking and oppression. 

The Rohingya are not coming to our shores to steal jobs from us; they are coming here in hope of surviving because staying back means they can be persecuted at will, as their government does not see them as citizens.

“Reports continue to circulate that Myanmar government agencies are colluding with human traffickers to encourage the emptying of the Rohingya from their land,” reads a press statement from the Penang Stop Human Trafficking Campaign.

To send the Rohingya back to the very country that systematically oppresses them is heartless, cruel and sadistic. They are fleeing a place where their life is in constant peril, and this is something that we should all be clear of.

Knowing the severity of the situation, the manner in which Asean nations are handling this crisis is appalling. Malaysia, without taking into consideration of its position as the chair of Asean in 2015 and member of the UN Security Council, bears a responsibility to welcome those who seek its protection.

The time has also come for the world to hold Myanmar accountable for its widespread discrimination and persecution of the Rohingya people. For too long we have kept silent.

At a time when your citizens are stepping up to do whatever they can to help, you with the whole machinery of a national government should be able to do more that what you have thus far. As a voting and tax-paying citizen of Malaysia, I hope my voice, together with the pleas of my fellow Malaysians, is heard when we appeal to our government to do what is humane and just.

The time has come for us to demand #SaveRohingya. – May 17, 2015.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.