Rohingya Migrants = Illegal Migrants.

[Coss]

BANGKOK — Thailand’s Army Chief said today that Rohingya migrants fleeing persecution in Myanmar do not qualify for refugee status in Thailand, and will be treated as illegal migrants.

 

Gen. Udomdet Sitabutr was responding to the suggestion that Thai authorities build refugee camps for the Rohingya, a Muslim group that has fled violence and state-sanctioned discrimination in Myanmar in droves, often by boat.

 

The Rohingya currently lie at the center of a regional migration crisis, with thousands of them stranded at sea while Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia refuse to take them in.

 

At a press conference today, Thailand’s army chief sought to differentiate the Rohingya from other ethnic groups, such as the Karen, who live in nine refugee camps in Thailand along the Thai - Myanmar border.

 

"The people who stay there fled from wars, because there are conflicts in Myanmar with minorities, and they cannot find a solution," Gen. Udomdet said. "But for the Rohingyas, let me explain that it is different issue, because it is about people who entered the country illegally."

 

However, the plight of the stateless Rohingya, who the UN considers one of the world’s "most persecuted" minorities, is well documented. Since 2012, mob violence organized by a local Buddhist population has driven tens of thousands of Rohingya to flee their homes in the Rahkine state.

 

http://www.khaosodenglish.com/detail.php?newsid=1432103359

[Coss]

My better half, read me some Thai sourced propaganda, obviously aimed at the Thai Locals, the said something like - Rohingya are lazy people who don't want to work, even though they are offered jobs. They just want to eat a lot and drink a lot and sleep and have other people clean their houses for them....

 

​I told her that its was stupid writing from a stupid author intended for stupid people.

[radioman]

Either something lost in translation or somebody speaks twinky twoddle!

[Flashermac]

It's not just Rohingyas. Boats are being found now with Bangladeshis mixed in.

[radioman]

That was always the case I think and only exacerbates the problem. Whilst the Rohingya might be a persecuted and excluded people the Bangladeshi are merely economic migrants seeking to improve their lot. Both may be considered trafficked but I would say the Rohingya are more driven to it whereas the Bangladeshi are more opportunists seeking to capitalise on an open route.

[bust]

I am surprised the Malaysians are turning them away as well majority being of the same faith

[Flashermac]

The Indonesians and Bangladeshis don't want them either. Maybe they should go to Brunei.

[Coss]

Either something lost in translation or somebody speaks twinky twoddle!

 

Definite Thai News article trying sway opinion.

[YimSiam]

The Thais have long relied on their own definition of refugee when it comes to Myanmar nationals, rather than the widely-accepted international definition - basically they focus on this issue of "fleeing fighting" which is not emphasized at all in international law: the core of international refugee protection is well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, nationality, religion, political opinion or membership of a particular social group (labor union advocates, for example, or gays). People fleeing fighting in the global perspective have been protected often, but they are not the ones the law aims to protect: it's people targeted due to some inherent or core aspect of their identity - either something that a person can't change (color of their skin) or shouldn't be required to change (religious or political belief). The Thais like the 'fleeing fighting' alternative because it gives them more leeway to push people back when the fighting subsides, as we've seen when conflict flares up on the border and people flow into Thailand - when the conflict dies down a few weeks later, they push the people back.

 

Trying to argue that the Rohingya from Myanmar are not refugees is just a tough line to argue - they have been living for decades under an insanely oppressive regime - completely beyond even that experienced by any other minority group in Myanmar, with permission required to leave one's village, to sleep outside of one's home, to marry, everything is regulated and punished, it's Nazi-like in it's dehumanization of the Rohingya people. After so many years of an utterly shit existence, the overall mentality of many is just a disaster - uneducated, oppressed, little concept of the outside world, and the one thing they cling to is their Islam. They are really tough people to integrate in a broader diverse community - but there is one place that's been relatively welcoming and supportive, and it's not where you'd think: Saudi Arabia. Tens if not hundreds of thousands of Rohingya have migrated to Mecca, and the Saudis have been issuing them 4 year temporary resident permits, they get jobs taking out the trash and cleaning toilets in Mecca - and they're happy, they're safe, they're in Mecca, all's well.

 

Of course, the Bangladeshis - who have similar ethnic composition, religion and share a language - have started fucking it up for the Rohingyas even in Mecca - where through corruption and fraud they've been applying for a receiving temporary visas on the basis of a claim to being Rohingya... They don't need the protection - send 'em back to live in shitty Bangladesh, like other Bangladeshis. But the Rohingya need the protection, and were getting it from the least likely protector of human rights - the bloody Saudis... Hope they can work out distinguishing the groups from each other, send the BGDs home, and let the Roh's stick it out in KSA...

[bust]

While the Rohingyas are being persecuted in Burma it does need to be noted they are actually Bengali refugees to begin with. So not sure how you distinguish one group from the other.

 

Either way though it's becoming one very messed up situation. One thing I do know it the Saudis can be very brutal with the Rohingyas under Sharia Law.