Thailand’s refusal to recognise Rohingya |as refugees leaves them in illegal limbo

By SUPALAK GANJANAKHUNDEE 
THE NATION 

 

Rohingya refugees who were stranded walk near the no man's land area between Bangladesh and Myanmar in the Palongkhali area next to Ukhia. Oct.19, 2017//AFP PHOTO

 

ROHINGYA in Myanmar, Bangladesh, Malaysia and Indonesia often experience their own problems, but in Thailand, members of the ethnic minority face extra difficulties because they are not recognised and categorised incorrectly.

 

A few thousand Rohingya entered Thailand years before the current crisis in Myanmar’s Rakhine state. More than half of them were boat people who took the dangerous journey across the Indian Ocean to Southeast Asia beginning in 2015, while the rest travelled in smaller groups overland to Thailand at about the same time.

 

The current exodus of 700,000 Rohingya to Bangladesh has not yet directly affected the Kingdom given the tight control in refugee camps in Bangladesh and the recent crackdown on human traffickers in Thailand. 

 

In the 2015 crisis, Southeast Asian nations blamed trafficking for bringing Rohingya onto their soil, where they were subjected to widely varying treatment. Thailand arrested, detained and deported Rohingya back to Myanmar. 

 

About 300 Rohingya have been in detention since then, said Siyeed Alam, chairman of the Rohingya Association in Thailand, whose organisation provides assistance to the group. 

 

Originally about 1,000 had been detained but many managed to break out of detention facilities and travel to Malaysia over recent years, he said.

 

While Thailand deems Rohingya to be illegal migrants who are seeking better lives in the Kingdom, without considering the circumstances at their point of origin, human rights expert Surapong Kongchantuk said most Rohingya were victims of trafficking and deserved better treatment by Thai authorities.

 

If authorities regarded them as the victims, they would have the right to work for their living, said lawyer Surapong, a minority rights advocate who has provided legal assistance to such groups for years.

 

Authorities have allowed millions of migrants from neighbouring Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar to live and work in the Kingdom, but only after national verification and registration. At present, about 3.8 migrant million workers earn a living in Thailand, with about 1.8 million working legally, but Rohingya are not eligible even if they are not in detention.

 

“We cannot register and our nationality cannot be verified as we are citizens of no country,” Siyeed said, adding that the idea that there were thousands of Rohingya in the Kingdom was paranoid. The extended deadline for national verification and registration is about to end in June.

 

If Rohingya had their choice, Siyeed said, they would settle in Muslim-majority countries such as Malaysia where they receive better treatment.

 

Unlike Thailand, Malaysia with the recognition of the United Nations offers better living and working conditions. There are about 150,000 Rohingya registered with the UN High Commission for Refugees in Malaysia currently, while about 6,000 in Indonesia also live in similar conditions.

 

Siyeed said he had urged Thai authorities to treat Rohingya better, but had been denied. “I don’t know how to legalise our status, but if they are left outlawed, how can authorities prevent them from doing illegal things and committing crime?” he asked.

 

Without legal status, Rohingya could not earn a living legally, he said. 

 

“Without any papers to identify ourselves, we cannot rent places to live. Life here is not easy,” he said.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/asean-plus/30340157

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-03-05

They are Bangladeshi moslems. They should go home to Bangladesh.

Here's a novel idea, send the muslims to a muslim country - assuming you can find one not at war with itself !

18 minutes ago, RichardColeman said:

Here's a novel idea, send the muslims to a muslim country - assuming you can find one not at war with itself !

Agreed, excellent proposal!

42 minutes ago, reargunnerph3 said:

They are Bangladeshi moslems. They should go home to Bangladesh.

The voice of ignorance yet again manifests on Thaivisa.

 

Rohingya from Myanmar are not welcomed by the Bangladeshi government e.g. prior Rohingya refugees from Myanmar have been held in truly awful conditions in Bangladesh for more than 20 years. It is long overdue for the Myanmar military to grant citizenship for the Rohingya and other basic human rights; at the very least they would have the opportunity to legally depart Myanmar to escape the awful oppression. Same applies to the Thai government to grant citizenship to Thai Hill Tribes people in order they can have a chance to improve their lives.

Edited March 5, 20188 yr by simple1

The Thai Government has enough problems taking care of Thai's properly. Send these Bangladeshi muslims back to ANYWHERE? WHY DON'T THEY GO TO MUSLIM COUNTRIES????? Thailand has enough problems with muslims in the South why invite more. Surely they are not as stupid as Canadian Trudo inviting ISIS killers into the country????????

One baiting troll post has been removed from this thread.

4 minutes ago, TSF said:

The Australian Greens would love to bring the entire lot to Australia, provide them with housing, free medical, and of course Centrelink payments. 

Outrageous.

 

How dare they be treated like human beings!!

52 minutes ago, simple1 said:

The voice of ignorance yet again manifests on Thaivisa.

 

Rohingya from Myanmar are not welcomed by the Bangladeshi government e.g. prior Rohingya refugees from Myanmar have been held in truly awful conditions in Bangladesh for more than 20 years. It is long overdue for the Myanmar military to grant citizenship for the Rohingya and other basic human rights; at the very least they would have the opportunity to legally depart Myanmar to escape the awful oppression. Same applies to the Thai government to grant citizenship to Thai Hill Tribes people in order they can have a chance to improve their lives.

Bullshit. Thailand for Thais. I lived in Thailand for thirty years with no thought of becoming a Citizen although I would have if the offer was there. I love Thailand and respect its tough Visa Policies. I wish so called First World Countries took care of their borders and illegals like Thailand does. Love you Thailand

Bullshit. Thailand for Thais. I lived in Thailand for thirty years with no thought of becoming a Citizen although I would have if the offer was there. I love Thailand and respect its tough Visa Policies. I wish so called First World Countries took care of their borders and illegals like Thailand does. Love you Thailand

8 minutes ago, jonclark said:

And while they are at it perhaps the Thais should send all the european Christians and Catholic back to the respective Christian / Catholic countries - Those pesky Christians / Catholics come here and marry Thai women  - that should be an occupation reserved for Thai men only.

 

Send em back !!

I agree with that.  Chiang Mai is overrun with weird Christian missionaries and evangelical nutcases.  

 

They are on a mission to spread their religion like a cancer... and destroy the culture... as well as molest a lot of children on the way for good measure.  

 

After getting rid of them, next send  the Buddhists back to a Buddhist country, as Thailand was never a Buddhist country to start with.  Going to be pretty empty here then.  

 

Religion is such a stupid thing!   

 

Those people in Burma are actually illegal immigrants there!  They had ample chance to move away in the past, but decided to stay and reproduce despite repeatedly being told they had to go. They did not integrate with the population.  Why allow them to stay and be a citizen?  Would you say the same in the UK, just make all illegal immigrants citizens and allow them to stay?

 

They have no place to go?  Why don't they go and get refugee status in a Muslim country?  Why does no Muslim country in the world offer them a home.. to their fellow believers?  Strange... not.  

32 minutes ago, TSF said:

The Australian Greens would love to bring the entire lot to Australia, provide them with housing, free medical, and of course Centrelink payments. 

Luckily for Oz people, Sweden already won this competition (sadly).

37 minutes ago, simple1 said:

Firstly Rohingya are Stateless, I assume you understand what this means regards freedom of movement.

 

You do known 80% of the Thai Muslim population lives outside of the deep South? In addition before commenting again it would be a good idea to familiarise yourself with Thai Government's responsibilities for the Thai Muslim community, with the support of the highest institution in Thailand; a good starting point...

 

http://www.thaiembassy.org/riyadh/en/organize/29025-Muslim-in-Thailand.html

I lived in Trang for many years and traveled extensly in Yala and Naratiwat. After 30 years in Thailand I think I know a little about the place since I also speak fluent Thai.

10 minutes ago, taipan1949 said:

Bullshit. Thailand for Thais. I lived in Thailand for thirty years with no thought of becoming a Citizen although I would have if the offer was there. I love Thailand and respect its tough Visa Policies. I wish so called First World Countries took care of their borders and illegals like Thailand does. Love you Thailand

None of which responded to my post, unless you're saying as a foreigner you do not support Thai Hill Tribes people being granted citizenship and vehemently disagree with the Thai Constitution. Thirty 30 years in Thailand, maybe so, but ignorant of the law of the land

6 minutes ago, taipan1949 said:

I lived in Trang for many years and traveled extensly in Yala and Naratiwat. After 30 years in Thailand I think I know a little about the place since I also speak fluent Thai.

I too personally know Thai Muslims from the deep South, so why are you posting hysterical ignorant nonsense. As well as obvious total lack of knowledge of the Thai Constitution

1 hour ago, taipan1949 said:

The Thai Government has enough problems taking care of Thai's properly. Send these Bangladeshi muslims back to ANYWHERE? WHY DON'T THEY GO TO MUSLIM COUNTRIES????? Thailand has enough problems with muslims in the South why invite more. Surely they are not as stupid as Canadian Trudo inviting ISIS killers into the country????????

 

What is a "Muslim country"?  The Rohingya have lived in their region of Myanmar, a region that was once their country, for over 1000 years, it is only Myanmar who claim, falsely, that they are immigrants from Bangladesh.  Instead of moaning about Muslims fleeing for their lives while their not so fortunate neighbors are raped and murdered in a state sanctioned genocide, why not consider for a second who are the bad guys and vent your anger on the genocidal maniacs at large in Myanmar?

Several abusive flame posts as well as replies have been removed from this thread.

I hear Merkel just found a bit more room to sticki in few more hundreds of refugees, poor Rohingyas,

nobody wants them, the pop kept his mouth shut, Aung san suu kyi don't want to know about them,

Bangladesh not really want them either and the world, just don't care.... they don't care about 400,000

dead Syrian dead either....

Where ever they are or where ever they are going,it would

be good if the could be treated as human beings,that would

be a basic start.

regards worgeordie

I read a lot of the comments here and I must say: maybe it would be better to end the human existence on Earth and just start over!

There is little hope!

 

Hundreds of thousands of HUMAN BEINGS get killed, driven out of their homes, abused, raped, starved to death...

and all you have is the old "Muslim bad"- chestnut!

Shame on you!

1 hour ago, taipan1949 said:

Bullshit. Thailand for Thais. I lived in Thailand for thirty years with no thought of becoming a Citizen although I would have if the offer was there. I love Thailand and respect its tough Visa Policies. I wish so called First World Countries took care of their borders and illegals like Thailand does. Love you Thailand

30 years here and you don't know Thailand can offer you citizenship which really isn't too difficult considering.   I find this very hard to believe.

9 hours ago, webfact said:

Thailand’s refusal to recognise Rohingya |as refugees leaves them in illegal limbo

No thanks to the lack of pressure from UK's Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson. (2018-02-13)

• [Thai Foreign Minister] Don [Pramudwinai] said after meeting with Johnson that his British counterpart prioritised the Rohinyga crisis but did not specifically ask for help from Thailand on the issue."
• “We shared the same concerns over the atrocities in Rakhine state and determined it was necessary to find proper solutions for humanitarian aid. Thailand can help as we have experience in handling hundreds of thousands of refugees over the past 30 years,”

https://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/1024800-british-foreign-secretary-boris-johnson-mets-pm-prayut/?tab=comments#comment-12706598

Seems Thailand's "help" is for itself and not for Rohingya refugees.

1 hour ago, DM07 said:

I read a lot of the comments here and I must say: maybe it would be better to end the human existence on Earth and just start over!

There is little hope!

 

Hundreds of thousands of HUMAN BEINGS get killed, driven out of their homes, abused, raped, starved to death...

and all you have is the old "Muslim bad"- chestnut!

Shame on you!

 

I'm with you mate.

It really would be a great start from scratch with NO religion involved. 

Religious freaks are the devil themselves.

Just now, Hupaponics said:

 

I'm with you mate.

It really would be a great start from scratch with NO religion involved. 

Religious freaks are the devil themselves.

Religious wars have kill more people than any other type of wars. If your religion requires you to kill people or yourself you may want to try living without it!

1 hour ago, DM07 said:

I read a lot of the comments here and I must say: maybe it would be better to end the human existence on Earth and just start over!

There is little hope!

 

Hundreds of thousands of HUMAN BEINGS get killed, driven out of their homes, abused, raped, starved to death...

and all you have is the old "Muslim bad"- chestnut!

Shame on you!

"There is little hope"

 

Indeed.

 

Even less now with the internet in full hue and cry.

 

 

Edited March 5, 20188 yr by Odysseus123

5 minutes ago, Odysseus123 said:

"There is little hope"

 

Indeed.

 

Even less now with the internet in full hue and cry.

 

 

 

There is no hope in my opinion, unfortunately.

There was a movie made by Monthy Phyton, Life of Brian. Hilarious, try to make a movie about the pedophile mohammed. Heads would be rolling...

 

Intolerance is within religious freaks.

To the one who says that Thailand will offer you citizenship, you are 100 percent wrong, it may let you be an immigrant, but you have to be born in Thailand to be a citizen. My brother in law came from China as a very young boy, and he is still only an immigrant with an ID card. As for these Muslim people from another country, Thailand has its own share of problems with the Thai Muslims who are born right in this country, it does not need to give any others any extra help.

Geezer

Off topic posts and the replies have been removed. 

14 hours ago, webfact said:

Thailand’s refusal to recognise Rohingya |as refugees leaves them in illegal limbo

only option they realistically have ( i do Not agree with it ), think about it, any other response angers a neighboring country;

and it is quite in line with the 'what-is-human-rights?' thinking of this bunch

12 hours ago, Stargrazer9889 said:

To the one who says that Thailand will offer you citizenship, you are 100 percent wrong, it may let you be an immigrant, but you have to be born in Thailand to be a citizen. My brother in law came from China as a very young boy, and he is still only an immigrant with an ID card. As for these Muslim people from another country, Thailand has its own share of problems with the Thai Muslims who are born right in this country, it does not need to give any others any extra help.

Geezer

Sorry, but you are incorrect regards foreigners being able to gain Thai citizenship. TV Forum has a few topics talking to how members gained Thai Citizenship.

 

The situation in the deep South has been identified by members of the Thai military as an ethnic nationalist low level conflict, not a religious war.

 

http://www.defence.gov.au/ADC/Publications/Shedden/2012/SheddenPapers12_120306_ConflictinThailand_Nurakkate.pdf

 

So far foreign fighter involvement has been minimal. Attempts to transition the deep South conflict to an Islamist conflict have not been successful.