Uncertain Rohingya stuck in limbo

 3 Jul 2013
Bangkok Post

Around 2,000 Rohingya are trapped in limbo in two dozen government-approved shelters around Thailand, often without recourse to the legal system despite abuses during their flight from Myanmar.

Officials indicate that the Muslims who fled their homes, often because of persecution, now have little hope for the immediate future as they languish in government custody.
Earlier this year, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra promised the international community to care for the Rohingya for six months, while the United Nations and other groups tried to come up with a solution for the shattered emigrants from the Myanmar-Bangladesh border area.
That deadline runs out on July 26, but there is no more hope for the Rohingya today than there was last January, during a wave of flights into Thailand.
The decision to shelter the Rohingya made life tough from the start, and it has not got much better. One serious drawback, for example, is the necessity to use already overcrowded immigration detention facilities. This has split families, as men and women are housed separately at the facilities.
International aid agencies have got involved, and supply food and basic essential items. They include the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the International Organisation of Migration (IOM), Muslim communities, and National Human Rights Commission.
These and other groups have visited, interviewed and recorded details of the Rohingya, but aside from giving them some aid items are powerless to provide hope. In addition, the groups say the Rohingya remain vulnerable and prone to trafficking gangsters. Officials say those at greatest risk are in shelters operated by the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security.
At the 24 official holding centres for the immigrants (see chart below), there are wildly different standards, for reasons that range from a simple lack of interpreters at the local level to pressure or intimidation from human trafficking rings that answer to influential local figures.
The Rohingya themselves often are to blame for problems. Officials say many lack education. Quarrels often occur, especially among those who want to leave the official camp to try to contact their loved ones in other locations. Many have tried to sneak out of the shelters to try to travel to Malaysia.

Aid workers said human trafficking and rape cases in Phang Nga province illustrated the vulnerability of the Rohingya. Officials in charge of the immigrants were dispirited and tired, especially by the communications problem, and uncertainty about how long the boat people would be staying.
"They are not criminals after all, so how can we keep 24-hour surveillance on them?" asked a shelter official in southern Thailand rhetorically.
Immigration officials share the problem. "We are seeking approval to build a fence so that at least they can roam around exercising or play football within this open-air compound while waiting for the government comes up with a concrete plan on where else to house them,” said one official at a Songkhla immigration centre.
Villagers in Nakhon Si Thammarat's Cha-uad district have protested against planned improvements of the facilities used to house the Rohingya - former Border Police Patrol housing.
The government was reportedly searching for remote areas of Songkhla or Prachuap Khiri Khan province to erect a type of refugee centre. Some Muslim countries have pledged to donate for a one-stop detention facility for the Rohingya, diplomatic sources said.
According to a survey carried out by the UNHCR, at least 60 Rohingya people were Bangladeshi citizens. The UN group was trying to coordinate efforts to repatriate them.
UNHCR spokesperson Vivian Tan said her agency had interviewed all of the approximately 2,000 Rohingya men, women and children in the shelters and immigration detention centres.
"Many say they left because of the inter-communal violence (between Buddhists and Muslims) in Myanmar's Rakhine state last year," she said. "Some of the women and children had planned to join their menfolk in Malaysia."
Because the situation in Rakhine remains unsettled, the UNHCR has appealed to Thai authorities to extend the six-month temporary protection promise, and to relocate the Rohingya to a site in Thailand that is less crowded and allows for family reunification.

However, immigration officials with long experience with the Rohingya said that while half of the Rohingya detainees were legitimately fleeing persecution, at least half were economic refugees hoping to get jobs and send money back home, and had no desire to be sent to third countries.

Myanmar to screen Rohingya refugees

June 13, 2013

Bangkok Post

BALI - The Myanmar government will next week begin a process of screening the nationalities of about 2,000 Rohingya migrants now being sheltered in Thailand, Foreign Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul said on Thursday.

Mr Surapong said Myanmar Foreign Minister Wanna Muang Lwin had informed him that Nay Pyi Taw had set up a working group, led by Myanmar ambassador to Thailand Myo Tint, to begin examining the nationalities of the Rohingya next week.

The ministers met for bilateral talks on the sidelines of the Forum for East Asia-Latin America Cooperation in Indonesia on Thursday.

The Myanmar move to deal with the Rohingya problem in Thailand was the result of earlier talks between the two countries in Brunei on the sidelines of the Asean Ministerial Meeting on April 10-11.

Mr Surapong had at that time asked Myanmar to take back Rohingya migrants in Thailand. However, Nay Pyi Taw was not convinced all 2,000 had travelled from Rakhine State, claiming some might have travelled from Bangladesh's border area to Myanmar.

Nay Pyi Taw still refuses to recognise most Rohingya as Myanmar citizens.

The nationality-screening process would examine whether they really had travelled from Rakhine State, Mr Surapong said. 

He said the Rohingya migrants, including children and women, had been fleeing Rakhine State in western Myanmar to Thailand via boat since early this year.

The Thai government in January agreed to give them shelter for six months, which expires soon.

Rohingya evacuated from cyclone

13 May 2013

Bangkok Post

A Muslim Rohingya child sits outside a tent at the Bawdupha Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp on the outskirts of Sittwe, the capital of Myanmar's western Rakhine state.

YANGON - Myanmar on Sunday began moving people into emergency shelters as a cyclone threatened to batter a violence-wracked region home to tens of thousands of internal refugees.

About 140,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) living in flimsy tents or makeshift housing are seen as particularly vulnerable to cyclone Mahasen, which was gathering strength in the Bay of Bengal.
The cyclone is expected to make landfall somewhere near the Myanmar-Bangladesh border on Thursday morning, according to Myanmar's Department of Meteorology and Hydrology.
It said Mahasen, which was packing winds of up to about 100 kilometres (60 miles) per hour, was likely to intensify into a "severe cyclonic storm" within the next 24 hours, warning ships to be on alert.
The IDPs at particular risk are mostly stateless Rohingya Muslims uprooted by two outbreaks of deadly religious violence since June last year.
"There are people still living in temporary tents. Now we are moving as many of those IDPs as we can to the stronger permanent shelters," Myo Thant, a spokesman for the Rakhine state government, told AFP by telephone.
He said he was unsure of the capacity of the shelters -- which are located in the state capital Sittwe -- but acknowledged that there were not enough to accommodate all of the displaced people.
"The rest will be sent to stay with relatives in villages, and to nearby school buildings," he added.
Local radio issued warnings of the approaching cyclone while loudspeakers relayed messages to people in villages in Rakhine, one of Myanmar's poorest and most remote states.
The alerts revived memories of cyclone Nargis, which devastated Myanmar's Irrawaddy Delta in May 2008, killing about 140,000 people.
The UN's disaster assessment agency said preparations were under way to provide shelter for up to 13,000 displaced people in Sittwe, voicing "particular concern" for IDPs living in "poorly constructed camps."
"Many of the camps are located in low-lying coastal areas susceptible to tidal surge," it warned.
Myanmar views its population of roughly 800,000 Rohingya as illegal Bangladeshi immigrants and denies them citizenship.
New York-based Human Rights Watch last month accused Myanmar of "a campaign of ethnic cleansing" against the Rohingya, citing evidence of mass graves and forced displacement affecting tens of thousands.
Thousands of Rohingya have fled the Buddhist-Muslim violence on rickety boats, mostly believed to be heading for Malaysia.

Activists liken Myanmar violence to Ku Klux Klan

May 11, 2013

Bangkok Post

Activists have likened Myanmar's worsening sectarian violence to the Ku Klux Klan racist movement in the US during the 1960s.

If the violence is not halted soon, it will divide the country ahead of general elections in 2015, they told a recent forum in Bangkok.

Smile Education and Development Foundation representative Myo Win said the recent explosion of Buddhist rage against Muslim Rohingya in his country was tearing his nation apart.

The violence has resulted in hundreds of casualties and thousands being forced from their homes.

Speaking at the forum at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand, Myo Win, a Muslim, said he feared what began as a systematic cleansing of the ethnic group in Rakhine state was evolving into a nationwide Ku Klux Klan-style hate movement.

He has been monitoring the Buddhist extremist movement - namely the 969 group - that propelled the violence in Rakhine state in October last year.

"It is splitting the nation and it is overwhelming us. It will surely have a direct impact on the upcoming election," the Yangon-based activist said.

Maung Zarni, a visiting fellow at the London School of Economics' Civil Society and Human Security Research Unit, dubbed the situation in his native land as "ethnocide" by Buddhists against the Rohingya.

The Rakhine situation and the viral streams of intellectuals and media spurring hatred against the Rohingya was the result of collaboration between the Myanmar Sangha and Buddhist societies and the government, Mr Zarni claimed.

International Network of Engaged Buddhists founder Sulak Sivaraksa said Myanmar's Buddhist monks - which formerly led the "Saffron Revolution", named after the dark red colour of their robes, against the former military regime - are encouraging the violence because they feel threatened.

Human Rights Watch released a report last month, accusing Myanmar government officials, monks and nationalists of "ethnic cleansing" and "crimes against humanity". The UN has also described the Rohingya as one of the most persecuted minorities in the world.

Mr Zarni said the Rohingya had been the target of several generations of discrimination by people trying to label them illegal immigrants, a view enshrined in the 1982 Citizenship Act which declared them "foreign residents".

He said Rohingya had been recognised by earlier regimes, pointing to a broadcast by the state-run Burmese Broadcasting Service in 1966 which translated a 10-minute news programme into different ethnic languages including Rohingya.

He said the first prime minister of independent Burma, U Nu, and his top brass also recognised Rohingya as one of the country's many ethnic groups in the 1960s.

Today, however, the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party's firebrand leader Aye Maung accuses the minority group of being descendants of the Mujahideen, stoking anti-Muslim sentiment.

Mr Zarni pointed part of the blame at the Rohingya Inquiry Commission's recent 186-page report which was supportive of the violence. The panel was set up by Myanmar President Thein Sein.

Mr Zarni said the commission sought to endorse anti-Muslim racism without highlighting problems caused by the surge in virulent Islamophobia.

Thein Sein has not done enough to try and control the situation, Mr Zarni said.

Myo Win from the Muslims Association Network based in Yangon said the government would have to go much further than Thein Sein simply condemning the escalation in violence.

Asean fails to step into the Rohingya mess

 6 May 2013

Bangkok Post

Saritdet Marukatat

The Rohingya problem in Myanmar could have been a blessing in disguise for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. The issue reminds Asean backers that the three "legs" of its supporting pillar _ economic, social and security _ should be going in the same direction, even if at a different pace.

The "club" has moved with a singularity of purpose and made remarkable moves on the economic front as the Asean Economic Community shimmers into view, but there is less cohesiveness on other issues among the 10 members.
The Asean bloc has in fact shown a real seriousness in tightening the economic knot. Most of the promises for economic union have been implemented; the rest will eventually be tackled in time for the launch of the community at the end of 2015. These remaining issues are, of course, the most sensitive ones and are a concern for trade and economic negotiators. However, the fast-approaching deadline will force them to work harder. There could be a heavy price to pay for another delay in the launch of the Asean community, which has already been deferred from the start of 2015 to December that year.
Asean leaders are jubilant at the steps being taken towards closer economic cooperation. That was reflected after the Brunei summit on April 25. "We are pleased with the progress of the Asean Economic Community, where 259 measures _ or 77.54% of the AEC blueprint _ have been implemented," the leaders boasted in a communique from Banda Seri Begawan.
But we must not forget that Asean also has two other legs _ security and social _ besides the economic one that are needed to make the AEC sustainable.
What was sadly missing from the 10-page summit communique was the issue that needs tackling right away _ the growing concern about communal unrest in Myanmar. The Southeast Asian leaders intentionally forgot to call it a regional worry _ at least for the moment.
Asean knows this issue is endangering the group's security stability, but the bloc is still leaving it to be sorted out by Myanmar. The Thein Sein government is showing no desire to turn it into a regional problem. The reality on the ground is it has already stirred up trouble for Myanmar's neighbours, especially Thailand.
The kingdom is currently sheltering 2,000 Rohingya refugees who have fled sectarian violence in Myanmar's Rakhine State and entered Thailand, mostly by ship. Others have landed in Malaysia and Indonesia, their primary destinations for reasons of Islamic religious bonds.
The plight of the Rohingya looks miserable after clashes with Buddhists in the western Myanmar state. Last year alone 200 died and tens of thousands were displaced. And there are no real moves being taken by the Myanmar government to end the problem. It seems it would be happy to see the Rohingya leave.
What is more disappointing is that no other Asean member is shouting loud enough for Myanmar to hear, except Indonesia. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told his Myanmar counterpart Thein Sein during his visit to Myanmar ahead of the summit that he was worried about the conflict. He sent a note in very diplomatic terms saying Jakarta was confident Thein Sein was "trying to do the right thing in terms of getting the communal violence under control".
What happened last week explains why the Indonesian leader is fretting about the unrest in Myanmar. The violence spread to other areas in Myanmar, angering the Muslims in his country enough that they came out to protest against the Myanmar government. Some even planned to bomb its embassy in Jakarta.
But Thailand, which is directly affected by the problem, is being very quiet. No pressure is being put on Myanmar to quickly solve this problem. Myanmar has told Thailand that the Rohingya refugees will be taken back if there is proof that they really came from Rakhine state. That is not a solution but a time-buying tactic for Yangon to wash its hands off the refugee problem. The process to verify their nationality will take months, or years, due to the lack of documentation and other evidence. Thus the verification process for the Rohingya will be outpaced by escalating violence and more refugees.
The Rohingya issue is destabilising the security of Asean as it spills over to other members' turf. But Asean leaders still decided not to take any action _ and that will be their stance until the situation becomes uncontrollable. After long years of eager anticipation of the Asean Community, the grouping's "not-my-business" attitude remains almost unchanged. It is pretending that Myanmar can solve the problem and that the economic issue is the only one that matters. In the meantime, more Rohingya will set out in rickety boats, more houses will be torched and more people will be killed.

Thein Sein to visit Washington

 3 May 2013

Bangkok Post

Myanmar President Thein Sein, pictured in Bangkok on April 29, 2013, plans a landmark visit to Washington this month in a sign of US support for his reforms despite a recent surge in anti-Muslim violence.

Myanmar President Thein Sein plans a landmark visit to Washington this month in a sign of US support for his reforms despite a recent surge in anti-Muslim violence, a source said Thursday.

Thein Sein, who would be the first leader of the country to visit in half a century, is planning to be in the American capital around May 20 or May 21, a staff member at the US Congress said, on condition of anonymity.
The trip would include a summit with President Barack Obama at the White House. Administration officials declined immediate comment but have previously said that they were studying a visit by Thein Sein.
The source said the United States was considering as another gesture a change in US policy to call the nation Myanmar, the leaders' preferred usage, and not the previous name of Burma, which is used by exile groups.
The United States is also looking at whether to include Myanmar under the Generalized System of Preferences, through which the United States offers duty-free access for up to 5,000 products from developing countries that meet labor standards.
It would be the first visit to Washington by a head of the country since military leader Ne Win was invited in 1966 by president Lyndon Johnson.
Thein Sein has previously visited the United States to attend the UN General Assembly, but only held meetings in New York.
Thein Sein, a former general, surprised even many skeptics after taking office in 2011 as a nominal civilian by undertaking a range of reforms, including freeing political prisoners and relaxing censorship.
He has also allowed opposition icon Aung San Suu Kyi to take a seat in parliament, a once unthinkable gesture as the Nobel Peace laureate spent most of the previous two decades under house arrest.
Obama paid his own visit to Myanmar in November when he praised the nation for its transition but called for progress on reforms, particularly in the treatment of ethnic minorities.
But Thein Sein's visit is expected to be controversial due to a surge in violence against the Rohingya, a Muslim people who are not considered citizens by Myanmar.
A recent Human Rights Watch study accused Myanmar of a "campaign of ethnic cleansing" against the Rohingya, saying that at least 211 have been killed since June 2012 and tens of thousands more forcibly displaced.
Jennifer Quigley, executive director of the US Campaign for Burma, a Washington-based pressure group, accused the Obama administration of only responding to positive developments and not to setbacks.
"To invite him at this point of time would really just reinforce the message of a positive relationship when there really has been no move by the US government to tie this to the Burmese government taking necessary steps" to curb the violence, she said.
Quigley voiced concern about the anti-Rohingya use of force and also the situation in Kachin state, where tens of thousands have been displaced since a ceasefire between the government and ethnic rebels broke down in June 2011.
The United States has already eased key sanctions against Myanmar and has allowed US businesses to invest in the country, which has seen a surge of interest by investors since the launch of reforms.
The congressional source said that Obama may try to send a signal to Myanmar by renewing his authority to impose sanctions, which remain on the books but have been waived.
The European Union last week ended the last of the bloc's sanctions against Myanmar, with the exception of an arms embargo.

Even before the reforms, most Asian nations conducted business with Myanmar, which had developed a close relationship with neighboring China.

Three new border crossings to open

26 Apr 2013

Bangkok Post 

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN - Thailand and Myanmar have agreed to open three more permanent border checkpoints to give a boost to economic development.

Surapong: Sought help on Rohingya

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and Myanmar President Thein Sein agreed on the Myanmar-proposed initiative on the sidelines of the 22nd Asean Summit in Brunei which ended on Thursday.
Deputy government spokesman Phakdeeharn Himathongkham said Ms Yingluck thanked the Myanmar government for raising the issue.
The checkpoints are between Thailand's Three Pagodas Pass in Kanchanaburi and Myanmar's Phayatongsu town; Ban Nam Pu Ron in Kanchanaburi and Myanmar's Tiki town; and the Singkorn temporary checkpoint in Prachuap Khiri Khan and Myanmar's Mortong town, he said.
Mr Phakdeeharn said Ms Yingluck told Thein Sein that opening three more checkpoints would help strengthen ties between Thailand and Myanmar.
He said Ms Yingluck took the opportunity during her meeting to follow up an earlier request made by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul about Rohingya migrants.
He called for the Myanmar government to send officials to Thailand to investigate the Rohingya migrants being detained here.
Mr Surapong said during the Asean Foreign Ministers Meeting in Brunei this month that he had sought cooperation from his Myanmar counterpart Wunna Maung Lwin to help return about 2,000 detained Rohingya to Myanmar.
Wunna Maung Lwin had pledged to take them back if his officials found they truly came from Myanmar's Rakhine state.
Mr Phakdeeharn said the two leaders also discussed the progress of the Dawei deep-sea port development project after Thailand and Myanmar earlier set up a joint committee to monitor the project.
He said Ms Yingluck told Thein Sein that Thailand had finished drafting a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) shareholder agreement.
She said she would like the Myanmar side to consider it.
The agreement sets the environment of shareholder rights and regulations for the management and operational policies of the project.
Mr Phakdeeharn said the two countries agreed they would meet to further discuss finance and investment issues for the project and would invite Japan to join the talks next month.
At the Asean Summit, Ms Yingluck proposed the connectivity of the three Asean pillars - political-security, economic, and socio-cultural communities - through cultural activities and tourism to promote public interaction.
She also wants to push forward assistance in medicine, public health, and education.

Free speech runs riot as anti-Muslim radicals fill vacuum

March 30, 2013

Bangkok Post

The murderous communal riots that have wracked Myanmar for nearly six months are edging closer to the country's most important cities, and to strong notice abroad, particularly in Muslim-majority countries. 

The government faces serious security questions from civil rights activists at home and overseas, including its knee-jerk reaction to declare a state of emergency and call in the army at every riot. 

The deaths, injuries and property destruction pose security threats to the government of President Thein Sein, and especially to its fragile attempt to transform Myanmar from a military-ruled tyranny into a functioning, free state. 

Democracy requires free speech, but free speech is putting Myanmar at risk at the moment. Extremists, especially anti-Muslim radicals, have dominated and taken control of the country's community message. Unless government and decent civil society responds soon, Myanmar faces a downward spiral of violence with unpredictable but disastrous consequences. 

The proper solution to offensive free speech is more free speech. That is not working and may not work in post-tyranny Myanmar for critical reasons. 

The most important problem is the abject failure of the government, opposition and civil society to engage the extremists. 

Thein Sein has been quick to bask in praise for what he claims are "reforms without parallel in modern times", but he has refused to condemn even murder and ethnic cleansing by Buddhists in Myanmar. 

Even Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has merely called for new laws that she thinks may protect minorities, without serious criticism of killing and mass arson. 

The army, which once controlled radicals with prison, torture, threats and ruthless intimidation, has completely abandoned that role. So far, it has stepped in to restore order when directed by the president, but has been totally inert as a proactive force. 

Thus, the militants and extremists have not only gained control of the microphone, they also are using free speech without serious challenge to their message. 

The other major failing of free speech in Myanmar is an inability to counter the extremists, currently controlling the microphones _ and the internet. 

The seasoned Myanmar reporter James Hookway, in a report for The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday, pictured pro-violent groups like the scurrilous Buddhist 969 Movement as dominating the Myanmar internet channels, and forcing out moderate messages. 

But while the 969 group does dominate some internet forums, the truth is there's little to dominate. 

Myanmar's hate and xenophobia are not controlled by militant messaging and microphone control. They are fuelled by a lack of means to communicate. 

An excellent and credible in-depth survey of Myanmar's communications turned up a pitiful and pitiable lack of means to counter the hate speech with free speech. 

Newspapers and magazines remain untrustworthy. TV and radio are unavailable to reasonable voices. 

But it is precisely in new information and communications technology (ICT) where reasonable voices have no chance in Myanmar. 

Three million of the country's 60 million people have mobile phones. Four million have no access at all to the internet, and a measly 1% of the country has an internet subscription. All three mobile phone operators are effectively government-controlled. 

In short, the extremists have the only voice. Militant monks like Sayataw Wira Thu of 969 are not effectively countered anywhere _ not by the government, by civil society or the media including the internet. 

As a result, this is a forking moment for free speech in Myanmar. The government and citizens have to decide whether the "free speech" of the extremist monks and nationalists can continue to foment violence, murders and ethnic cleansing. 

Until high-ranking authorities expose the hate, and an effective internet-based media can affect public opinion, the government may be forced to revert to the old way of controlling hate speech, by the prison system. That would scratch the veneer of democratic reforms, but probably would stop the blatant and murderous attacks on minorities, especially Muslims. It is a tough call for the self-styled world-class reformer, but Thein Sein must face the hard choice soon, before racial and communal riots get entirely out of hand.

Source:Here

Harbour for Rohingya or stop on way to hell?

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.

Source:Here

Rohingya killings: What the villagers saw

March 18, 2013
Bangkok Post

Villagers from Koh Surin of Khura Buri district in Phangnga province give their version of events of what happened on the night the Navy stands accused of firing on Rohingya boat people. All of the footage in this video was recorded by villagers, who say they filmed it as evidence. The identities of all sources have been withheld to protect their anonymity.












Source:Here

Rohingya claim Thais shot at them

Rohingya people arrive at a shelter in Punteuet, in Indonesia's Aceh province, on February 27, 2013. Fishermen in western Indonesia rescued more than 100 ethnic Rohingya who had sailed from Myanmar, an official said, with an asylum seeker claiming they had been shot at in Thai waters. 

February 27, 2013

Bangkok Post

JAKARTA - Fishermen in western Indonesia rescued more than 100 ethnic Rohingya who had sailed from Myanmar, an official said Wednesday, with an asylum seeker claiming they had been shot at in Thai waters.

The 121 Rohingya were found drifting late Tuesday around 25 kilometres (15 miles) from the coastal village of Cot Trueng, on the northernmost tip of Sumatra island in Aceh province, village chief Mukhtar Samsyah told AFP. 

"Their boat ran out of petrol as they tried to sail from Myanmar to Thailand," he said. 

But 21-year-old asylum seeker Farid Alam claimed the lack of fuel was due to sabotage by the Thai authorities. 

He said the boat carrying the Rohingya, including six women and two children, had been intercepted in Thai waters three days after they left Myanmar around a month ago. 

"They came onto our boat, threw away our food and petrol and then towed our boat further out to sea. During the night, they shot at us," he told AFP by phone in Malay, from an immigration detention centre in Lhokseumawe city. 

Alam said there were originally 12 more members on the boat, but he believed they had been "shot dead and fell into the sea". 

All of those rescued were taken to the detention centre Wednesday morning after being given a place to sleep, food and water. 

"We want to stay in any country with Muslims. We don't mind where, Aceh is good too. But please don't send us back to Myanmar. Just shoot all of us -- we are better off dead than going back to our country," Alam said. 

The UN considers the Rohingya, a stateless Muslim ethnic group, to be one of the most persecuted minorities in the world. Myanmar views its roughly 800,000 Rohingya inhabitants as illegal Bangladeshi immigrants, denying them citizenship. 

Buddhist-Muslim unrest in the western Myanmar state of Rakhine has left at least 180 people dead and more than 110,000 displaced since June 2012. 

Almost 6,000 Rohingya fleeing the violence have illegally entered Thai waters since October, the Thai army said earlier this month. 

In 2009 Thai authorities admitted to towing Rohingya asylum seekers out to sea after claims they had been abused and set adrift with minimal food and water.

A robust helping hand for displaced Rohingya, please

 February 25, 2013

Bangkok Post

Vitit Muntarbhorn

Although the term "Rohingya" is subject to various interpretations, it has been used in recent times primarily to cover the ethnic Muslim minority found in Myanmar's Rakhine State. Rohingya have sadly been in the news because of the violence, discrimination, dispossession and marginalisation to which they have been subjected. The depth of their tragedy cries out for a robust helping hand from their state of origin and the international community. 

Their persistent plight invites deeper understanding of their situation. First, it should be noted that their status in Myanmar was not adequately dealt with at the time of Burma's (later Myanmar) independence. In effect, many of them are stateless. The 2008 constitution of the country perpetuates their marginalisation by providing that a citizen is either a person "born of parents both of whom are nationals of the Republic of Myanmar" or "a person who is already a citizen by law on the day this constitution comes into operation". This is compounded by the 1982 Myanmar Citizenship Law which fails to list Rohingya as a "national ethnic group" entitled automatically to Myanmar citizenship, even though it recognises other national ethnic groups for this purpose. 

Second, for decades, the group has suffered impediments to their rights and livelihood. They are some of the poorest people in the country. There are recurrent breaches of their right to freedom of movement, access to education, freedom of religion and even their right to marry. Matters came to a head in 2012 with widespread inter-ethnic violence in Rakhine State, causing a massive caseload of internally displaced persons, including Rohingya, and their most recent cross-border outflows into neighbouring countries by land and sea. 

To be fair, however, the plight of other victims of violence in Rakhine State should not be forgotten. The authorities have also set up a national Commission of Inquiry on the issue. 

Meanwhile, the UN Special Rapporteur on Myanmar remains concerned with the serious situation in Rakhine State, despite constructive developments on other fronts in the country. 

Third, precisely because old caseloads of Rohingya who sought refuge in neighbouring countries, particularly during the mid 1970s and 1990s, have not been fully dealt with, those neighbours find it difficult to keep open the door to new arrivals. 

For instance, in Bangladesh, while many have been assisted and have found solutions to their plight, including voluntary repatriation to their country of origin, others are in limbo and await long-term solutions. This creates a sense of compassion fatigue at the local level. The situation is rendered more complex by the fact that there is a local Rohingya community, as distinct from the Rohingya who are seeking refuge in Myanmar, and some of the local community are also seeking access to other countries. 

Fourth, the past two years have witnessed large influxes into neighbouring Thailand and Malaysia (and other countries). The response facing Rohingya has been ambivalent. While tens of thousands have now found refuge in Malaysia and hundreds have been sheltered in Thailand, others have been subjected to push-backs and push-outs, particularly at sea as a kind of "soft deportation". There are fears of forced return to their country of origin, though this would be in breach of the international law principle of "non-refoulement" which prohibits the forced return of asylum-seekers to areas of danger, particularly their country of origin. Thailand is also a party to the UN Convention against Torture which prohibits absolutely the forced return of persons to areas where there is a fear of torture. However, on a welcome note, some of the more enlightened officials have urged safety and temporary shelter for the refugees, while civil society groups have shown kindness towards them. 

Fifth, the outflow of Rohingya from Myanmar is blighted by criminal elements seeking to profit from them. Often, those who seek refuge elsewhere are victims of human trafficking _ a phenomenon leading them to a situation of exploitation whether or not they cross a border _ and victims of human smuggling whereby a third party helps them to cross the border to enter another country illegally or in an irregular manner. The gravity of the situation is highlighted by the fact that in recent months many of the victims have been women and children. The challenge is to ensure that they are not kept in detention but are cared for in welfare facilities and treated as victims rather than illegal immigrants. 

On an auspicious front, even though most Southeast Asian countries are not parties to the UN Convention on the status of refugees, they are all parties to the UN conventions on the rights of women and children which advocate non-discrimination and humane treatment of all women and children irrespective of their origins. The most recent regional declaration on human rights _ the Asean Human Rights Declaration _ also refers to the possibility of asylum, even though that declaration has been criticised on some fronts. 

From the angle of regional dialogue and related action, there is now a forum known as the Bali Process on People Smuggling, Trafficking in Persons and Related Transnational Crime, which acts as a platform to involve scores of countries in the search for solutions. This includes all the Asean countries as well as key neighbours such as Bangladesh, India and China, as well as other key actors such as the US, Australia and New Zealand. This process has established a regional office in Bangkok and it meets periodically to promote cross-border cooperation. 

In 2011, it adopted a Regional Cooperation Framework to counter the irregular movement of people due to human smuggling, as well as to address the issue of asylum-seekers, with the possibility of assessment processes to determine their status. The latter is linked to the possibility of a variety of solutions, such as voluntary repatriation, resettlement within and outside the region, and "in country" solutions. Logically also, the main UN body dealing with refugees and the issue of statelessness _ the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) _ is a key catalyst on these issues and is interlinked with the Bali Process, anchored on the need to ensure consistency with international law. 

With regard to the Rohingya and other displacements, key actions premised on the need for robust international cooperation should include the following: 

- Address the root causes of the conflict and displacement in Myanmar, including overcoming the marginalisation of the Rohingya community, to protect human rights, and to ensure sustainable development and poverty alleviation; 

- Reform the citizenship law in the country and adopt more flexible criteria for the granting of nationality (such as by reason of birth in the country), as well as residency and travel documents based on the freedom of movement and return to the country; 

- Provide humanitarian assistance to victims of violence in the country on the basis of non-discrimination; 

- Keep open the borders of neighbouring countries to help victims of persecution, violence and conflict, with due respect for international principles such as "non-refoulement" and rescue at sea for boat arrivals, while countering human trafficking and smuggling; 

- Provide at least temporary shelters for persons who seek refuge, avoid detaining them, and ensure that they have access to humanitarian bodies such as the UNHCR; 

- Initiate a process to determine the status of those who seek refuge in these countries; where there are grounds to believe that they have escaped persecution, violence or conflict, they should be able to stay at least temporarily and have access to durable solutions; in regard to cases which do not pass this test, the main option is for them to return to their country of origin, preferably on a voluntary basis; 

- Maximise international and regional responsibility-sharing by providing sustained support to the countries caring for persons who seek refuge; and 

- Nurture mutual understanding and cooperation by means of inter-community programmes and activities, particularly from a young age and with due regard to the rich diversity and humanity of cultures and peoples in the region. 

Vitit Muntarbhorn is a Professor at the Faculty of Law, Chulalongkorn University. He has helped the UN in a variety of capacities, including as a consultant, expert and Special Rapporteur.

Rohingya need US help, seminar told

 February 16, 2013

Bangkok Post

The United States should play a key role in negotiating with Myanmar to take back thousands of Rohingya migrants who are being sheltered in several provinces of Thailand, a seminar was told yesterday.

Col Teeranan Nandhakwang, deputy director of the Strategic and Security Affairs Division at Royal Thai Armed Forces, said Thailand should ask the US to help negotiate with the Myanmar government to move Rohingya migrants back to the country.
Col Teeranan was speaking at the seminar titled "Rohingya: Testing for Asean" held by the Institute of Asean Studies of Chulalongkorn University.
He said Thailand cannot pressure Myanmar to accept the Rohingya migrants as a lot of Thai businesses are currently investing there.
But he believed the country can ask for help from the US, which wants to play a role in this region, he said.
"Myanmar is opening up its country and wants to counterbalance the power with China while the US wants to return to Myanmar," Col Teeranan said.
"Using the US to talk with Myanmar might help convince the latter to accept the Rohingya people."
Thailand could work in parallel with the US by acting as a coordinator to hold meetings with other Asean member countries to resolve the problem, he said.
The Immigration Bureau's Sub-Division 3 chief Anucha Kitivipart said 1,772 Rohingya migrants had been found entering southern Thailand illegally between Jan 9 and Wednesday.
Pol Col Anucha said as shelters in Songkhla were crowded, some Rohingya migrants had been moved to Trat, Ubon Ratchathani, Nong Khai, Mukdahan and Kanchanaburi.
In Kanchanaburi, police have taken 16 Rohingya men to a hospital in Muang district after they complained of stomach pains after breakfast yesterday.
Phaholpolpayuhasaena Hospital director Somjate Laoluekiat said the patients had a mild stomach ache and suggested the cause might be food poisoning.
Pol Lt Col Artorn Wongjaikuer, deputy chief of Kanchanaburi's Immigrant Bureau, said 150 Rohingya people ate the same food and only 16 of them got sick. He said if it was because of the food, the number of sick should be higher.

Stomach bug hits Rohingya

15 Feb 2013
Bangkok Post

KANCHANABURI - Police have taken 16 Rohingya men to hospital after they suddenly developed stomach pains after breakfast on Friday.

Medical staff monitor two of the Rohingya men admitted to hospital on Friday with stomach complaints. (Photo by Piyarach Chongcharoen)

Somjate Laoluekiat, director of Phaholpolpayuhasaena Hospital, said the patients had mild stomach aches and suggested that the cause might be from food poisoning.
Pol Lt Col Artorn Wongjaikuer, deputy superintendent of the Kanchanaburi Immigration Bureau, said that 150 Rohingya people ate the same food but only 16 of them got sick.
He said that if the illness had been because of the food, then the number of sick people should be higher.
However, he noticed that not all the illegal migrants ate with the utensils provided, using their hands instead, so they might have picked up some bacteria that caused stomach problems.
The patients will undergo further medical examinations, and the meals that the migrants consumed will also be investigated, Dr Somjate said.
According to the Immigration Police Bureau, 1,772 Rohingya have been found to have entered Thailand illegally from Jan 9 to Feb 13. Most of them are believed to come from Myanmar.
Thailand is sheltering them as illegal migrants, mostly in the southern provinces and other places including Kanchanaburi.
However, authorities have said the country will only commit to care for the Rohingya for six months, and they are hoping to work out a solution with the UN and/or other countries including Myanmar.

Tough time at Rohingya shelter

13 Feb 2013
Bangkok Post

Rohingya illegal immigrants in temporary shelters face a rough time in the near future, forced to deal with psychological and physical challenges as isolated women and teenagers receive little or no information about their husbands and sons.

Communications is the most common and urgent issue in the holding centres, as quarrels among the Rohingya escalate, and psychological problems increase.
The International Committee of Red Cross, United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef), and the UN refugee agency UNHCR have access to the Rohingya in holding areas, but not to those detained at immigration centres.
On Monday, Nittaya Mukdamas, head of the Songkhla Women and Children Shelter, told a meeting in Songkhla with senior officials and members of the National Human Rights Commission that some violence had broken out at her shelter, which holds 105 people - 22 migrants from the Padangbesar Immigration Holding Centre and 83 from Sadao Immigration.
Rohingya were increasingly tense and quarrelsome amongst themselves, she said. A pregnant woman was assaulted by some other Rohingya women and was sent to the nearby Songkhla hospital on Feb 9.
A Bangkok Post reporter met the attacked woman at the shelter on Tuesday, shortly after she was discharged from the state hospital.
A soft-speaking Nuhabar, six months pregnant, was holding her 15-month-old sleepy girl in her arms while talking to the reporter through a Rohingya interpreter from Bangkok.
"I had problems twice with some women" in the camp, she said. "First, I was accused stealing their ice cubes and they snatched a bucket from me. While tussling over this, the nearby water tank tipped over, with water splashing and the plastic tank hurting me," said Nuhabar.
Another conflict was triggered when she entered a room and switched on a fan. Sleeping women from the ice-cube incident "were shouting that they were having headaches, didn't I see that? I told her that I didn't know and they came to kick me and punch me in the stomach and buttock."
Ms Nittaya added that a doctor had checked the Rohingya woman, and given an initial diagnosis of either anemia or thalassemia. The violent confrontation may have affected both her pregnancy and personal health.
Three alleged attackers have been removed from the shelter, following advice at the Monday meeting. Songkhla deputy police chief Pol Col Kriskorn Paleethunyawong suggested that if there were problems from Rohingya detained outside the immigration detention centres under care of Ministry of Social Development and Human Security, they could be punished.
Nuhabar did not seem worried about her own physical condition, and praised the Shelter's medical help. But she was worried about when she could meet her husband who came on the same boat. He has been split from her and held in the men's detention area.
She said she left home because there was little to eat and no opportunity in the village of Santori near a small river in western Myanmar.
"People got tense with surrounding situations (she did not elaborate), and they moved out, so I came down to Valladen, staying for some four to five months with my mother.
"But then people said it was no longer safe, and many went to sea, so my husband brought us to the sea as well," said Nuhabar. She said she did not know exactly how old she was.
Her boat drifted in the Andaman Sea for 13 days before the Myanmar coast guard captured and held them four days, demanding money or goods carried by the migrants before giving them food and water and towing them back to sea.
"Two women had four-baht gold with them and they gave it to the uniformed officers," she said. "Others gave 500 to 1,000 kyats." They were told they were about 200 nautical miles from Malaysia but her boat's navigator was incompetent and they ended up on the Thai coast.
A Thai fishing vessel found them and escorted the Rohingya to Thai authorities, who processed them, photographed them and sent them to a hilly shore. They crowded into a pickup truck for a one-hour trip, counted and processed again, and loaded for a longer trip.
They wound up in a hiding place, where they stayed for 10 days near Padangbesar, waiting for the inevitable police raid.
"Brokers told us that they had paid lump sums before we came, so we had to pay them back. In fact, of 130 people from our boat who landed in Thailand, some ran away," said Nuhabar.
She now wants to meet her husband, being held at at another immigration detention centre, but she does not know where. She also wants to talk to her father and elder brother who are in Malaysia.
Nittaya said she faces two problems - communications with the Rohingya, and visitors trying to talk to the Rohingya, or simply stare at them.
Kachan Sungpet, head of the Satun Emergency House, reported problems with teenagers. Boys quarreled about bedtime, betel nut spitting control areas, cooking of food, prayer calls, and camp chores.
Some boys had emerged as natural leaders, he said, making the job of camp authorities much easier.
Mr Kachan said an imam regularly visits the boys, but camp authorities are considering whether to allow them to visit a local mosque in Satun, so they can pray and help to clean it.

Police turn back 145 sea-faring Rohingya

4 Feb 2013

Bangkok Post

TRANG : Marine police intercepted 145 Rohingya illegal migrants, including two women and two children, in a boat off Sikao district yesterday.

The Rohingya were pushed back out to sea after being given food and water, Pol Col Arthit Damsanit, chief of Marine Police Division 9 in Kantang district, said.
He said a cruise boat had alerted officers after spotting the migrants' vessel floating not far from shore.
Pol Col Arthit said the Rohingya appeared tired and hungry. They had been two days without food after exhausting their supplies.
The migrants had set off from Myanmar and were on their way to Malaysia, he said. They were intercepted as they were preparing to stop at Koh Muk to ask for food.
Trang provincial governor Theerayut Iamtrakul said local administration officials were on standby to provide humanitarian assistance as needed.

145 Rohingya found off Trang

3 FEB 2013

Bangkok Post

About 145 Rohingya boat people were found crammed inside a vessel without food or water for 48 hours off Mook island in Trang's Sikao district on Sunday.

The refugees told authorities that they were headed to  Malaysia but their food and water had run out before they reached shore. Feeling exhausted and fatigued from hunger, they then decided to float their vessel off Mook island in the hope of being able to ask for food and water from the locals before they would go on, Pol Col Arthit Damsanit, chief of Marine Police Division 9, said.
Of the 145 Rohingya, there were two women and two children, he said.
Tourist boat operators spotted the vessel in the sea off Park Meng beach in tambon Mai Fard and informed the authorities.
A combined team of marine police and Red Cross officials descended on the boat and provided basic humanitarian aid by giving them food supplies. Officials did not arrest them or bring them ashore because of lack of sheltering facilities. They only pressured them to stay out of Thai territorial waters, Pol Col Arthist said.  
About 1,700 Rohingya illegal migrants have been rounded up since early January. Thailand has provided them with food and water on humanitarian grounds.
The Muslim Rohingya are a minority group in Myanmar's Rakhine state and claim they are fleeing violent persecution.

Human cargo in need of compassion

3 Feb 2013
Bangkok Post

A long-time activist for the Rohingya stands behind a plea made last week before parliament calling for the government to take a more humanitarian stance towards the ethnic group who are easy prey for trafficking gangs

STILL DRIFTING: Left and below left, Rohingya refugees pack a boat headed to Malaysia last week as the boat is boarded by Thai Navy officers offering assistance close to Phuket island.

'Why is this not human trafficking? If this is not human trafficking, what else could it be?'' asked an emotional Abdul Kalam, coordinator of Thailand's Rohingya National Organisation. He was referring to the decision last Monday to repatriate Rohingya from Myanmar's Rakhine state. The National Security Council, along with the Foreign Ministry, ruled that human trafficking plays no part in the rickety boats full of Rohingya that have washed up on Thai shores because there was no evidence of slave labour, forced prostitution or forced begging. Therefore the Rohingya can stay a maximum of six months in Thailand before they are sent back to Myanmar.

Abdul Kalam, a Rohingya who left Myanmar 30 years ago and entered Thailand at Tak's Mae Sot district, told Spectrum last week he estimates that, besides the highly publicised boat people, some 3,000 to 4,000 Rohingya live as illegal immigrants in Thailand, mostly in Bangkok.

Mr Kalam is registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and thus has the right to stay here and earn a living. But he has never forgotten his roots and has worked for several years to help Rohingya who have fallen victim to traffickers. His group is an offshoot of the Burmese (Myanmar) Rohingya Association in Thailand, whose president, Maung Kyaw Nu, on Wednesday made a plea before the parliament's committee on law, judiciary and human rights for the government to grant temporary asylum to Rohingya here and for the international community to intervene on behalf of the minority in Myanmar.
Maung Kyaw Nu told the committee that Rohingya migrants pay 60,000 baht to 65,000 baht each to smugglers to get into Thailand,

Mr Kalam told Spectrum: ''There are networks. We have reported the authorities involved in trafficking several times over the years. But the problem remains unsolved. More and more Rohingya become victims.''

On Jan 10, police rounded up more than 300 Rohingya at a remote plantation in Songkhla's Sadoa district. The incident, coming on the heels of widespread mob violence directed at Rohingya in Rakhine state, brought renewed attention to the long-standing problem from local and international humanitarian organisations, including the UNHCR, as well as foreign governments. This in turn increased pressure on the Thai government to come up with solutions other than to criminalise the group.

According to figures from the Department of Special Investigation, 1,225 Rohingya were arrested in 2007; 2,763 in 2008; and 4,886 in 2009. Considered to be illegal migrants, they were deported bak to Myanmar.
''Rohingya have been locked up in camps and some have been physically assaulted,'' said Mr Kalam. ''They have been traded among trafficking gangs and those looking for cheap labour.''

Most of the Rohingya who have arrived in Thailand are men between the ages of 15 and 50 years old, and it's believed they are headed for work in Malaysia and in the Middle East.
Lately the situation has become complicated with the presence of more children and women, some of them pregnant.

Mr Kalam said that just about all Rohingya leave Myanmar willingly, expecting a safer and better life. It is not until their journey is halfway complete that they realise they are in the hands of traffickers who are often ruthless.

There is an agreement among academics, international organisations and even Thai security agencies that trafficking of Rohingya is a reality and should not be tolerated. ''We've learned that each man can be traded for as much as 30,000 to 40,000 baht. What else do we need to prove that they are victims of human trafficking gangs?'' asked Mr Kalam. But despite many reports giving examples of trafficking only a few people have been arrested for the crime. ''We do not know how the legal process is going ... I am afraid that they'll be set free because there is not enough evidence,'' said Mr Kalam.

''However, I am certain that the rescued Rohingya should be able to identify them [the traffickers] if the authorities really want to take legal action against them.''

ADEQUATE SHELTERS NEEDED

At present, about 1.400 Rohingya reside in different centres in the South, mostly in Muslim communities. However, most of these centres are overcrowded. More than 50 women and children at an overcrowded welfare centre in Phangnga province were sent to Surat Thani, while other Rohingya in the South have been transferred to centres in Prachuap Khiri Khan and Kanchanaburi province.
Military authorities have strongly disagreed with establishing shelters or camps for the Rohingya, but securities agencies including the National Security Council have proposed that the government build three detentions centres in Songkhla and Ranong. However, individual Rohingya would still be be subject to deportation after six months in the country.

In Ranong, which has dealt with a large influx of illegal migrants from Myanmar for several years, moves to build temporary shelters have been met with protests.
On Wednesday, Foreign Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul asked for help from the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation to find solutions to the problem and led about 15 diplomats from the group on a tour of a temporary shelter for about 100 Rohingya women and children in Songkhla's Muang district.
''If possible, we would like to send them back to their place of origin or a third country,'' Mr Surapong told the group.

Mr Kalam said that bigger shelters for Rohingya are urgently needed with better living conditions. ''These are not criminals, they are victims of trafficking gangs,'' he said. He said it was important that they be allowed to stay together, especially families, and cited cases in which children had been separated from their parents to live in different centres.

Mr Kalam, who had just returned from a visit to Phangnga province where a group of 110 Rohingya were picked up from Mu Ko Surin Marine National Park, said he has hopes the system will soon be better coordinated. ''The sooner we set up an efficient system the better, because it's certain many more will be leaving their homes in Rakhine state,'' he said.

He is concerned about the six-month timeframe proposed by Thai authorities, saying it is not enough time to sort out the Rohingya's problems and arrange for third countries to receive them.
''One thing is certain, they do not want to be deported back to Myanmar. If they are deported, they will come back again,'' he said.

He urged a case-by-case approach to determine each migrant's status and desired destination. However, he added that he had talked to many Rohingya who really had no set destination, saying ''it is up to Allah''. Nevertheless, many have relatives in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia or other countries they would like to
He said a proper resettlement process in Thailand would take at least a year, and that to lessen the burden on the government and the public, international organisations, especially the UNHCR, should be given full access to the Rohingya in temporary shelters and work with third countries to arrange for their resettlement.
When asked if providing temporary shelters in Thailand would encourage more Rohingya to make the journey from Rakhine state, Mr Kalam said this is doubtful and that the driving force for the exodus is ''the genocide that has been going on'' in Rakhine state. ''No one wants to live in shelters anywhere,'' he said, adding that some of those rescued here had come from refugee camps in Bangladesh.

Mr Kalam said he is concerned that if Rohingya in Thailand are left without proper care and guidance it could lead to a security problem for the Thai government. ''If they are left unattended without any future, they will be at risk of being lured into doing bad things,'' he said. He said that with help from Thai authorities and local communities _ both Muslim and Buddhist _ there is hope for the future of Rohingya refugees and also those who remain in Myanmar.