 |
An armed police officer guards as Muslim refugees stand behind him at
a refugee camp in Sittwe, capital of Rakhine State, western Burma (Photo - AP)
Chun Han Wong & Celine Fernandez |
The Wall Street Journal
December 14, 2012
Malaysia is considering taking in 40 shipwreck survivors believed to be
refugees from Myanmar, who have been in limbo this week after the
Singapore government denied them entry.
Malaysia's deliberations over the men saved by a Vietnamese cargo ship
come as Singapore authorities declined to admit nine other survivors
from the shipwreck who were picked up by a Liberia-flagged freighter
after their vessel sank in Myanmar waters.
For now, both ships and their rescued passengers remain anchored off
Singapore's coast after attempts by the Vietnamese ship's owner—the
Northern Shipping Joint Stock Co., or Nosco—to seek assistance were
turned down by Singapore authorities, highlighting the wariness among
Southeast Asian governments to accept asylum seekers from a recent
exodus caused by Myanmar's ethnic violence.
Malaysia is considering accepting those aboard the Nosco Victory after
requests by Nosco officials and the United Nations refugee agency,
according to Vivian Tan, a Bangkok-based spokeswoman for the U.N. High
Commissioner for Refugees.
The Malaysian foreign ministry on Friday confirmed that discussions were
under way but didn't provide a timeline for a decision.
"UNHCR has been in touch with Malaysian authorities and are advocating
for them to take these people. UNHCR is ready to help when they
disembark" with humanitarian assistance and potentially starting asylum
proceedings for those who qualify, Ms. Tan said.
Neither Singapore nor Malaysia are signatories to the U.N. Convention on
Refugees, which establishes a basic framework for protecting people
escaping persecution. The convention bars signatories from expelling
recognized refugees—with some exceptions—or punishing refugees for
illegal entry.
The 49 survivors had been aboard the ill-fated Nagu, which was carrying
about 250 people when it sank Dec. 5 after making a port call in
Myanmar's western Rakhine province, according to the Indian coast guard.
The Rakhine region has been embroiled in violence in recent months that
has left tens of thousands of minority Muslim Rohingya people
homeless.
It isn't clear whether the survivors are Rohingya, whose plight has put
pressure on Myanmar's government. The 40 men saved by the Nosco Victory
say they are Muslims—16 to 45 years old—from Myanmar's Rakhine state,
according to a manifest seen by The Wall Street Journal and prepared by a
marine insurer, which interviewed the survivors.
The identities of the other nine survivors, currently aboard the X-Press Hoogly, are unclear.
The Nosco Victory was due to dock Dec. 9 in Singapore, while the X-Press
Hoogly had been scheduled for a stop Friday at the island state. But
Singapore's Maritime and Port Authority said in response to queries that
it denied both ships entry because the rescued "do not appear to be
persons eligible to enter Singapore," and alleged the captains of both
vessels had ignored advice from Indian authorities to take the survivors
to the "nearest port of safety," without clarifying which destination.
The captains couldn't be reached to comment. The Authority didn't respond to a query on the survivors' ethnicity.
Nosco executives say they had sought help from the Vietnamese foreign
ministry and the Singapore and Myanmar embassies in Hanoi, but grew
impatient over the lack of a solution as health and safety risks grew
onboard their ship, because of overcrowding and a potential shortage of
food supplies.
An official at X-Press Feeder, the shipping firm that chartered the
X-Press Hoogly, declined to comment on whether the company was
negotiating with Singapore authorities.
The Nosco Victory was originally scheduled to arrive in Indonesia on
Dec. 15, although Indonesian officials have indicated reluctance to
accept the shipwrecked people, saying they won't actively encourage
refugees to come but would process those who have already arrived. An
X-Press Feeder official said it isn't clear if the X-Press Hoogly can
reach Kolkata on Dec. 20 as initially planned.
The incident comes as civil-society groups warn that growing numbers of
Rohingya refugees are fleeing Rakhine by boat to nearby countries,
prompted by Bangladesh's continued closure of its border with Rakhine
state. Some recent attempts have ended in tragedy, including an October
sinking in which about 130 Rohingya were reportedly killed.
Singapore has in the past said it can't accept refugees and asylum
seekers due to its small size and limited resources, although it would
help such people find other asylum destinations.
Malaysia, meanwhile, has become reluctant hosts to some 24,000 Rohingya,
who form one of the largest refugee groups in the Muslim-majority
country, where asylum seekers are vulnerable to arrests for immigration
offenses, according to the U.N. refugee agency.
Myanmar's former military regime last year handed power to a
quasi-civilian government that has embarked on a series of reforms. But
analysts say rivalries between various ethnicities that had been
suppressed by the military now present a challenge to its fledgling
democracy.
About 800,000 Rohingya Muslims live in Myanmar. They make up just 1.25%
of Myanmar's 64 million population, but a much larger proportion in
Rakhine state, about a quarter. The majority in the state are Buddhist
Rakhines.
The U.N. refugee agency estimates the latest spate of ethnic violence in
Rakhine has so far displaced about 115,000 people, most of them
Rohingya.
—Vu Trong Khanh in Hanoi contributed to this article.
No comments:
Post a Comment