RUNNING OUT OF TIME:
Global inaction sparks outrage as thousands of Rohingya suffer ‘mass atrocities’
THE United Nations has described them as “probably the most friendless people in the world”.
They have been rejected by the nation they consider their home and shunned by their neighbours.
Virtually stateless, they are also impoverished and oppressed, and by most accounts, the world’s most persecuted people.
Events in recent weeks have forced more than 10,000 Rohingya to flee their homes in Myanmar’s Rakhine state to neighbouring Bangladesh amid a military crackdown on insurgents there.
They have related countless horror stories of the killings, tortures and rapes of young and old Rohingya, which the Myanmar government has denied as “false”.
Rights groups have likened the situation to a Southeast Asian version of Srebrenica, the July 1995 massacre of more than 8,000 Bosnian Muslims.
Tun Khin, of the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK, was quoted by the BBC as saying the Rohingya suffered “mass atrocities” allegedly perpetrated by security forces in the northern part of Rakhine.
“People are dying day by day, and time is running out.”
UN officials told the BBC that the Rohingya were being “collectively punished” for militant attacks, with the ultimate goal being ethnic cleansing.
Scholars on Myanmar have described the Rohingya as the “most marginalised” minority in the country, and yet, Western media and governments have long ignored their plight and often showed a “one-sided humanitarian passion”.
Dismayed by global inaction and a lack of commitment, Malaysia has adopted a strong stance on the Rohingya issue, despite breaking away from the Asean norm of non-interference in domestic affairs.
A draft Wisma Putra statement two weeks ago on the issue was rejected by the cabinet because the wording was found to be not strong enough.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak chose to use a stronger term when he addressed a huge rally in support of the Rohingya last Sunday.
He called the killings “genocide” — the deliberate and systematic extermination of a national, racial, political or cultural group.
“The world cannot sit and watch genocide take place.
“The world cannot say ‘look, it is not our problem’. It is our problem.”
Wisma Putra had preferred the term “ethnic cleansing”.
Najib also said Myanmar’s de facto leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Aung San Suu Kyi, had refused to discuss the issue with Malaysia.
And, in a snub to Putrajaya, Suu Kyi met Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno L.P. Marsudi over dinner in Myanmar’s capital, Naypyidaw, last Tuesday.
Indonesia’s measured advances and disdain for megaphone diplomacy had apparently won the confidence of the Myanmar government, said Indonesian media.
“The Indonesian foreign minister emphasised how important it was for security and stability to be swiftly achieved so that efforts in inclusive development could continue in Rakhine state,” said a statement by the Indonesian Foreign Ministry.
Rights groups have also heaped criticism on Suu Kyi, an icon whom the world, including Malaysia, had supported for her democratic activism.
Her failure to defend the Rohingya and refusal to condemn the violence are major letdowns.
And, Myanmar’s investigative commission to look into allegations of human rights violations in Rakhine was, indeed, a sham.
The 13-member commission lacked credibility as it included no Muslims and was led by Vice-President Myint Swe, a close confidant of former junta leader Than Shwe.
Suu Kyi recently broke her silence on Rakhine, blaming the international community for stoking tensions between Muslims and Buddhists.
She said the military was acting in response to attacks by Muslim insurgents last month.
There must be greater international and Asean pressure to end the atrocities in Rakhine and prevent it from becoming a potential hotbed for regional terrorism.
Bangladesh, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand would be burdened by an influx of Rohingya refugees if the violence and killings escalate.
This is no time for government posturing to score domestic political points.
This is a humanitarian crisis in the making.
We don’t want another Bosnia or Aleppo in our vicinity.
A comprehensive and lasting solution needs to be worked out at the UN level.
There must be a UN mandate to probe into the crimes against humanity in Rakhine.
Myanmar should allow humanitarian missions access to the affected areas.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees should also coordinate a regional response if desperate Rohingya are forced to flee to nearby countries.
A veteran newsman, A Jalil Hamid believes that a good journalist should be curious and sceptical at the same time. He can be reached via jalil@nstp.com.my