March 24, 2013
Bangkok Post
Hin Lat village is at the centre of a controversy involving murdered
members of the group. And while locals claim only altruistic motives in
helping them, others suspect complicity in trafficking
For thousands of Rohingya fleeing Myanmar's troubled Rakhine state, the
sleepy fishing village of Ban Hin Lat is the first port of call on their
difficult quest to find better lives.
 |
| DARING TO DREAM: A Rohingya boy at the Phangnga Shelter for Children and Families looks up with his eyes full of hope for a better life. |
If they make it to the village in the Khura Buri district of Phangnga
they will find a relatively well-off fishing community and locals more
than sympathetic to their plight. Most of the locals are Muslims, and
some Myanmar nationals work legally on fishing boats.
In the grounds of the local mosque, out of sight from the main road, is a
10m Rohingya vessel inscribed in Thai with the words "Rohingya people _
the forgotten citizens of the world".
Ga, a 43-year-old Thai Muslim who heads the unofficial Rohingya Help
Centre in Hin Lat, says she had a negative attitude toward the Rohingya
before she got to know them.
"Once I got to talk to them, I realised we are so much alike," said Ga, who requested her full name not be used.
"First of all, the Rohingya are strict Muslims. They practise their religion _ such as praying five times a day _ just like us.
 |
A BRIEF RESPITE: A group of Rohingya who arrived on Koh Surin on Feb 20 being fed by villagers on the island
before the alleged shootings occurred.
|
"Even though we speak a different language, we believe in the same
things and we do no harm to other people. They are just seeking a
peaceful and better place to live where they can feel safe and be
treated as equals ... as human beings."
Ga, who works on Koh Surin as a cook, played a key role in the drama
last month involving 133 Rohingya that led to allegations that the Royal
Thai Navy shot at a group of them, resulting in the deaths of two men.
It was Ga who first noticed the Rohingya vessel on Feb 20 and sent a
speedboat to tow it to Koh Surin. The weary passengers, who had set out
from Rakhine state on Feb 5 were fed on the island by Ga and her
friends, who then contacted the navy. The feeding of the Rohingya was
organised and paid for by the help centre.
Ga believed the Rohingya would be taken out to sea, but alternative
plans were made to send them to a temporary shelter at Hin Lat on the
mainland. However, the vessel never arrived and two bodies were found in
the water off Koh Phra Thong near Hin Lat a week later, while five
other Rohingya men were rescued from the sea.
Ga, who took footage of the rescued Rohingya on her mobile phone, was on
hand when the bodies were recovered, saying she later identified them
in the hospital from their clothing. She also provided a
Bangladeshi-speaking roti seller to act as an interpreter for the five
rescued men.
 |
A Rohingya woman takes care of the baby girl she gave birth to earlier
this year on a boat during the journey from Myanmar to Thailand.
|
Bang Bao, a senior religious leader in the village, says because of its
location, Hin Lat is a natural stopping-off point for Rohingya
boatpeople as they inevitably run out of fuel or provisions here,
although their intended destination may be Malaysia or Indonesia.
"Since about November last year until February this year, there have
been so many Rohingya arriving illegally by boat," he said.
"From the conversations I've had with the Rohingya who made it here,
they said their boats run out of fuel when they reach Thai waters.
"They just wait for the tide to take them closer to land. It almost
sounds like it is well-planned. Most of the boats usually make landfall
near Koh Phra Thong or Koh Surin."
Surapong Kongchantuk, of the Lawyers' Council of Thailand, is chairman
of the Human Rights Subcommittee on Ethnic Minorities, Stateless,
Migrant Workers and Displaced Persons. He said he had not heard from his
contacts about smuggling through the village.
However, he said the situation at Hin Lat sounded typical of the
smuggling rings involving Rohingya and locals who work in conjunction
with the Thai military.
Often this involves a local "spotter" who notifies the human traffickers of a boat's arrival.
"On every boat carrying Rohingya people, there are usually one or two
traffickers," he said. "They are the ones who have the mobile phones
with different SIMs for each country. They call the traffickers on the
other side to report their location and when they expect to arrive."
Mr Surapong said a call is then made to a contact on the mainland to prepare for the arrival of the boatpeople.
"Once they arrive, government officials make it appear they are under
arrest, but in fact they are sent to a safe house to wait for people to
buy them," he said.
"But that was before the government came up with the idea of pushing the
boats back out to sea and not allowing the Rohingya ashore on the
mainland," he said referring to the new government policy of returning
the boats to sea, rather than having the Rohingya land and be processed
by immigration officials. Prior to this policy change, Rohingya who
landed or who were intercepted and sent to the mainland were dealt with
by the Internal Security Operations Command or the immigration police.
Mr Surapong said while the modus operandi at Hin Lat closely matched
other Rohingya trafficking cases, he was not drawing any conclusions
that local villagers were involved in human smuggling.
"They may simply be helping other Muslims," he said.
Mr Bao said they allowed the Rohingya Help Centre to use the mosque as a
headquarters and gathering point because of a shortage of facilities.
He said the help centre was set up at the request of the Khura Buri
district office. When Rohingya are sent to the mainland the villagers
offer them food and temporary accommodation before they are taken to the
shelter.
"We were all quite happy to do it because the Rohingya are Muslims just like us," Mr Bao said of the help centre.
"We believe that we are all the same _ brothers and sisters. Therefore, we have to offer each other help."
Regarding the Feb 20 incident, Mr Bao said a worker related to Ga on
Surin island had phoned ahead to tell the villagers to prepare for the
arrival of the vessel that night.
 |
FEET FIRST: Football is one of the activities boys at the shelter enjoy.
Sometimes they compete against male staff members of the shelter. He
said they expected the Rohingya to spend a few days recovering before
being handed over to immigration police.
|
Mr Bao said that as the boatpeople had landed on Koh Surin, he believed
they had effectively reached Thai territory and had to be processed by
immigration officials, rather than being pushed back out to sea.
THE LITTLE FISH ARE SWEETER
Rohingya women and children who make it to the mainland in the province
are sent to the Phangnga Shelter for Children and Families, 100km south
of Hin Lat.
Dararat Suthes, head of the centre, said police transferred the first
batch of Rohingya _ eight women, 10 boys and seven girls _ to them on
Jan 16.
''After that, there were a lot more sent to our shelter almost daily for a week, and more once a week after that,'' she said.
At present, there are 68 Rohingya in the shelter; 35 boys, nine girls and 24 women.
''We only have nine people, including myself, to take care of the 16 Thai kids we have,'' she said.
''With the Rohingya, now we have to take care of an extra 68 people. We
only have enough money to feed 30 people _ 60 baht per person per day.
Without donations of food, clothes and money we wouldn't be able to take
care of these people.''
Mrs Dararat also said six boys had run away from the shelter after a
visit by a group of men in early February who were posing as a Muslim
welfare group checking whether they were being fed the right food and
allowed to practise their religious beliefs.
''A group of men who called themselves the Muslim Association came to
visit the Rohingya to check on their welfare and how they were getting
on,'' she said.
''After that day, two boys ran away on Feb 11, and another two days
later,'' he said ''The Muslim Association came back at the beginning of
March and another three boys disappeared on March 4.
''I believe the people pretending to be from the Muslim Association must
be behind all this. There was one time in February when a group of men
came to the shelter around 7pm and asked us directly how much one
Rohingya would cost? One of my staff was very scared. She told them that
people here are not for sale.''
Mrs Dararat said the Rohingya seemed to trust only other Muslims, especially those from Malaysia.
''If you pretend to be a Muslim from Malaysia you will get their full attention,'' she said.
A member of the Spectrum team posed as a Malaysian Muslim to test the
theory. Several of the boys ran to their rooms and returned with
telephone numbers written on pieces of paper. Mrs Dararat believed these
were contact details of human smugglers. Some of the children said in
broken English ''Me go Malaysia, with you OK?''
Mrs Dararat said she did not know how much longer the Rohingya would be at the shelter.
''The Phangnga provincial office promised that they will be at the
shelter for only six months and then they will be transferred
elsewhere,'' she said.
''I only hope they can go where they want without being sold as if they are pieces of meat.''
Mr Surapong said it was not unusual that staff at the shelter would be asked to sell Rohingya.
''There are some shelters in the South where Rohingya can easily be bought,'' he said.
''This is big business. One Rohingya can cost up to 50,000 baht.
Sometimes a whole boatload can cost more than 1.5 million baht. That is
why people are involved in trafficking.''
BEATING THE TRAFFICK
Through her work at the Rohingya Help Centre, Ga echoes the sentiments
of Mrs Dararat on the recent increase in the number of Rohingya coming
through Hin Lat.
''They never came in these numbers before,'' she said. ''I've seen them
in the past and I believed they were looking for asylum since there were
men and women travelling together and their ages ranged from young to
old.
''Now I feel there are more seeking jobs through human-trafficking
agents. There are a lot more Rohingya travelling through Thailand to
Malaysia and most of them are adult men.''
Despite her growing scepticism about the motives for their journeys, Ga
says the local Muslim community has no qualms about feeding the Rohingya
halal food and offering them a place at the mosque.
''They can spend the night before government officials come to take them
to Rohingya shelters in Phangnga, Surat Thani, Songkhla and other
provinces in the South,'' she said.
''We spend community funds to pay for food and supplies for the Rohingya
who arrive at our village. Sometimes we have to cover some expenses
ourselves, but we don't mind helping out.''
Ga said when the two bodies were found by fishermen on Feb 28 she
covered the expenses to retrieve them. ''I paid for the fuel for another
boat to bring the bodies back to our village and I took the bodies to
the hospital with my own truck.''
Ga also revealed the villagers had played a key role in keeping the five rescued survivors away from the navy.
''Fishermen from our village discovered them and took them back to the
village where we kept them hidden,'' she said. ''They were quite scared
of the navy and asked to stay.
''We provided their accommodation, but I can't reveal where. Most have already left and continued on their journey.''
Ga also said that sometimes Rohingya in temporary accommodation in Hin Lat fled before they were taken to government shelters.
''I know that the Rohingya who came here already had the contact details
of human traffickers who are able to get them to where they want to
go,'' she said. ''I've long suspected that government officials are
somehow involved with the trafficking.''
Mr Surapong said the ''mass shooting'' near Koh Phra Thong had changed
the relationship between the Rohingya and the Thai ''men in uniform''
involved in the human smuggling racket. In the past, corruption and
bribes had been an accepted part of the deal to reach their destination,
but the Rohingya would not tolerate Thai officials allegedly firing on
them.
''They were happy to see Thai government officials involved in human
trafficking activities, until the deaths of the two Rohingya,'' he
said.
The two bodies recovered had autopsies performed on them at the Khura
Buri Chaipat Hospital on Feb 28. Neither the hospital nor the local
police were willing to reveal the results of the autopsies and the
bodies have been buried.
Pol Col Weerasin Kwancheng, superintendent of Khura Buri Police Station
told Spectrum on Thursday the causes of death of the two men were
unknown.
''The Khura Buri Chaipat Hospital performed autopsies on the two
unidentified men found floating in the water off Ko Phra Thong on Feb
28, but they couldn't find out the causes of death. The bodies were
badly decayed and the hospital didn't have the equipment for more
thorough autopsies. Therefore, the hospital couldn't determine the
actual causes of death.''
Mr Surapong said that at a human trafficking seminar he held in Bangkok
on March 14, a group of angry Rohingya claimed 15 Rohingya had been
killed in Khura Buri.
Mr Surapong said the government needed a clearer policy to deal with
Rohingya otherwise the same tragedies would be repeated every year.
''They should now close the border and not allow any more Rohingya to enter the country,'' he said.
''We should deal with the 1,700 Rohingya that are here by sending them back to their place of origin.
''The most important step is to find out who is behind this and punish them. Though it's difficult, it can be done.''
A COMMUNITY FULL OF COLOUR
The village of Ban Hin Lat dates back to 1945, when it was settled by
Muslims from Krabi and Nakhon Si Thammarat provinces. Today, the
thriving community is home to 2,227 people, of which 80% percent are
Muslim, including a number of migrant fishermen from Myanmar.
Fishing is a key driver of the local economy, along with its rubber and palm tree plantations.
Architecturally, Hin Lat is a blend of ancient and modern. Traditional
fishermen's cottages sit comfortably alongside the colourful modern
homes of the village's wealthier residents.
The bright paintwork is typical of Muslim homes in southern Thailand, where vibrant hues are used as a sign of prosperity.
Most properties in the village are single storey, except for the small
number belonging to civic leaders and other prominent figures.
Unlike many villages in Thailand, Hin Lat has a paved road running
through its central area. Though despite the nod to modern
infrastructure, much of the activity in the community revolves around
the market areas and back streets, where rows of vendors tout their
wares and local folk chat among themselves in their distinctive southern
dialect.
At one end of the main street is the harbour. Tourists can catch a boat
there to Koh Pra Thong, one of Phangnga's main attractions.
Close to the entrance to the village is the community mosque at Hin Lat
Moo 3. As well as providing a religious focal point for the community,
the mosque is home to the Rohingya Help Centre. Suitably, within its
grounds is a small fishing boat that was used by a group of Rohingya
people to flee Myanmar and later put on display by the local people.
Villagers told Spectrum that they preserved the boat as a reminder of
the 120 Rohingya people who sailed in it from Myanmar to Thailand, and
whose lives they helped to save.
Written in Thai along the side of the vessel are the words, ''Rohingya people _ the forgotten citizens of the world''.
 |
| SOMBRE SOUVENIR: A Rohingya boat next to the mosque at Hin Lat bears the legend ‘Rohingya people —the forgotten citizens of the world’. |
 |
| GATEWAY TO THE SEA: The harbour at Hin Lat is central to the local economy. |
 |
| ALL THE RIGHT MOVES: A group of Rohingya children watch as a boy shows off his moves at a dance-off competition among the group. |
No comments:
Post a Comment