A ship carrying hundreds of Rohingya Muslims sent out a distress call asking to be rescued Tuesday, saying they were abandoned by their captain without fuel and have been without food or water for three days…
Most are trying to reach Malaysia… They have been prevented from disembarking, in some cases for two or more months, because a crackdown on human trafficking networks in Thailand, Malaysia and Bangladesh has sent agents and brokers into hiding. In some cases captains are abandoning their vessels, leaving men, women and children to fend for themselves.
(The Associated Press, May 12, 2015)
Asia’s Forgotten Migration Crisis
The lack of media coverage means most people have no idea Asia has been grappling with a migration crisis that rivals Europe’s Mediterranean disaster. Tens of thousands of African migrants have washed up on European shores, and countless more have drowned crossing the sea. But nearly as many Rohingya migrants have fled to Asian shores, with untold numbers drowning in the Bay of Bengal.
More to the point, like their African counterparts, the Rohingyas are fleeing persecution and violence. But their crisis can be summed up in two chilling and all-too-familiar words: religious cleansing.
Myanmar policy’s message to Muslims: get out…
The Rohingya have faced discrimination for decades. They have been denied citizenship and evicted from their homes, their land has been confiscated, and they have been attacked by the military. After one such attack in 1978, some 200,000 fled to Bangladesh.
(New York Times, November 6, 2014)
As it happens, I’ve been in the vanguard of those calling for Western media and governments alike to show as much interest in and concern about Rohingya migrants as they’ve been showing in and about African migrants.
I previously explored the deeply troubling contradiction of Buddhist monks behaving like terrorists. This, while their de facto secular leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, remained conspicuously silent about the ongoing religious cleansing.
I noted how Buddhism’s reputation for inspiring peace and non-violence made these reports particularly surreal. And I criticized Suu Kyi’s failure to condemn the persecution of Myanmar’s Muslims, whom the UN has called “the world’s most persecuted people.”
That was two and a half years ago, folks. Since then, Aung Suu Kyi has used her moral authority to seek political accommodation with Myanmar’s military rulers at the expense of religious freedom for its Rohingya Muslims.
As I documented in my commentary on Suu Kyi’s troubling accommodation with Myanmar’s military dictatorship, viral pictures showed her sitting comfortably as a solitary figure among hundreds of military men at the annual military parade.
Of course, such PR images compose a hallmark of all dictatorships. Moreover, they provided clear vindication of my informed cynicism about her political transformation.
Apropos of moral authority, the Dalai Lama has been far more forthright in condemning Myanmar’s actions. As I noted in my earlier analysis of Buddhist monks’ terrorizing behavior, his spiritual influence over Buddhist monks appears quite limited. After all, despite his entreaties, Buddhists continue their crusade of religious cleansing against Muslims.
Suu Kyi’s lack of common cause with the Rohingyas is made all the more dismaying when one considers that she won the Nobel Peace Prize for her struggle for democratic freedoms in Myanmar.
For perspective, imagine this scenario playing out with Nelson Mandela: After his release from prison, he agrees to serve in a parliament still controlled by Apartheid leaders. Then he stands by as Nguni people (who compose the majority of South Africa’s Black population) go on a tribal-cleansing crusade to rid the country of Venda and Sotho people. The shock and dismay would be immense.
In any event, I continue to hope against hope that the klieg light of media coverage will finally shine on Myanmar’s unfolding genocide. Especially given all of the media coverage Myanmar’s military leaders are buying to advertise newly developed tourist enclaves, which must have Cuba’s military leaders salivating to emulate.
I am acutely mindful that African migrants are fleeing failing African states (most notably Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia), where leaders have no ability to enforce law and order, let alone prevent migrants taking to the Mediterranean Sea. Therefore, continual media coverage of their plight has done little to improve living conditions at home.
But Rohingya migrants are fleeing this developing Asian nation, where leaders have the ability to prevent not only monks from waging their genocidal religious crusade, but also migrants from taking to the Bay of Bengal. What’s more, like China’s leaders, Myanmar’s would clearly prefer to rely more on economic growth (for which tourism is like water) than military force to sustain their authoritarian rule.
Therefore, more media coverage of the Rohingyas’ plight would force Myanmar’s military rulers to act. They would want to prevent damning images of Muslims fleeing oppression from undermining their promotional images of tourists visiting Myanmar.
Related commentaries:
Buddhist monks…
Suu Kyi becoming…
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