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Time to walk the talk: Malaysia and the Rohingya crisis

Malaysia is sowing problems for the future by not integrating Rohignya refugees
Time to walk the talk: Malaysia and the Rohingya crisis

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak gestures while addressing ethnic Rohingya Muslim refugees during a gathering in Kuala Lumpur on Dec. 4, 2016 against the persecution of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar. (Photo by Manan Vatsyayana/AFP)

Published: February 01, 2017 03:52 AM GMT
Updated: February 01, 2017 04:05 AM GMT

Malaysia received a wave of Muslim Rohingya refugees in October last year when violence flared up in their home state of Rakhine in Myanmar.

This is not an isolated incident. In 2012, a true exodus occurred following riots in Rakhine's main town, Sittwe and elsewhere, targeting the Rohingya. Then, and again in the spring of 2015, tens of thousands of Rohingya tried to reach safety by traveling to other countries in Southeast Asia by sea.

Their suffering received international attention, albeit briefly. After having been pushed back — not only by Malaysia but by Indonesia and Thailand as well — to the sea where scores died, they were eventually allowed entry. In the meantime, however, the fate of the Rohingya has fallen into oblivion.

Malaysia has taken about 120,000 Rohingya refugees, roughly half of them registered by the U.N. Refugee Agency, a registration without meaning in Malaysia because the country has not signed the U.N. Convention on Refugees.

Malaysia does not provide formal recognition of refugees and they cannot live there legally. Consequently, their lives are miserable.

Having been exploited by touts who extract thousands of dollars for a life-threatening escape from Myanmar, they end up living on the margins of a society that is not willing to give them any rights, jobs or education. They are subject to humiliation and criminalization.

The Rohingya question overshadows diplomatic relations between Malaysia and Myanmar. Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has recently accused Myanmar of pursuing a policy of "ethnic cleansing." There was even talk in the news about a "genocide of Muslims."

Subsequently, Myanmar stopped sending workers to Malaysia. This hit their plantation industry which employs tens of thousands of low-cost workers from abroad.

Najib's criticism is viewed in Myanmar as a breach of the principle of non-interference which is a substantial part of the agreement between the members of the Association of South East Asian Nations.

The fact that Najib sent a top military chief, Zulkifeli Mohammed Zin, instead of a diplomat, to negotiate with Myanmar, can only be interpreted as further provocation. These are all signs that the Malaysian government is more concerned with domestic policy than finding a solution to the Rohingya problem.

The Rohingya are probably the smallest migrant group in Malaysia. Compared to Indonesian and Filipino migrants, the figures are rather low.

It is therefore all the more surprising that their brothers in faith from Myanmar are in such a regrettable situation. They are not recognized in their homeland, and Malaysia does not even give them refugee status.

As stateless people, the Rohingya are exposed to arbitrary abuse by Malaysian officials. They must survive without legal protection or state aid. Returning home is currently not an option. And the terrorist threat lures: in their poverty and helplessness, some of them are certainly receptive to the promises of radical Islam.

The tribes and peoples living in the colony that later became Malaysia had a lucky draw when the peninsula was released by the British into independence in 1957 and Malaysian Borneo in 1963. Rather than falling into civil war and then into the hands of a military junta like Myanmar, they were put under a comparatively tolerant constitution.

Article 11 of the Malaysian Constitution, which declares Islam as the country's official religion, allows for the practice of other religions. And, overall, the different religious and ethnic groups live together peacefully. This society has managed to deal with the influx of millions of migrants from the two bordering countries: Indonesia and Philippines.

Malaysia still has a good economy. In comparison with European debt levels its public debt is quite low, below 60 percent. The country has natural resources that it can sell, and a competent industrial sector. The gross domestic product per capita is twice that of Thailand and three times that of Indonesia. In other words, Malaysia is comparatively rich.

While refugees from Syria are well treated in Malaysia, little to nothing is done for other refugees. It would be good if Malaysia could be equally concerned with the Rohingya. Besides offering humanitarian aid, it could develop strategies to integrate populations that have been left without a home or nation after the collapse of the colonial powers and might, possibly, pose a threat to states that do not welcome them.

It cannot be such a great effort to acknowledge the presence of the Rohingya in Malaysia and give them basic civil rights, to provide them with protection and food, and to push for a solution in their home country via international diplomacy.

If Malaysia walks the way it talks, others will follow. If not, a group of people will fall through the cracks.

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